A Voice in the Dark
by GenericUser
Summary: Considering Minato Arisato has had a voice in his head for the past ten years, then accepting that manifestations of thought can be shot out of his skull almost seems less absurd. Of course, that's not much of a help when said power proves to be a larger threat to his continued health and wellbeing than anything else. A Persona 3 AU; will diverge more later on.
1. Prologue: An Intervention

_He had just sat down when a knock at the door disturbed him. "Come in," he said. "The door's unlocked."_

_A hooded man entered, and the seated man frowned, putting down his book. "What are you doing here?"_

_The newcomer gave an unnerving smile. "I just wanted to see what was going on with you, old friend."_

"_We have never been friends." Annoyance crept into his voice, and he stood up. "Why are you really here?"_

_The smile faded. "If you're going to be so serious, I'll tell you now. I trust that you are aware of what's been going on?"_

"_Yes…" He pursed his lips. Where was he going with this?_

"_You see, I know a way that we could stop it. I would only need your cooperation…"_

"_Forget it. There is no way that I would ever go along with any one of your plans."_

_The smile returned. "Whoever said it was my plan? I'm just the messenger."_

_A pause filled the air._

"_Fine. I'll listen to what you have to say."_

* * *

Status: Primary power offline. Secondary power offline. Emergency power critical. Chassis stability critical. Ammunition supply low. Temperature critical.

Enemy stability is at low level. Enemy remains active. Initiate 'Destroy' protocol? Y/N

'Destroy' protocol initiated. ERROR Source: Evoker systems critical malfunction. 'Destroy' protocol could not be engaged. Attempt reboot? Y/N

Reboot not attempted. Attempt 'Emergency Seal' protocol?

'Emergency Seal' protocol initiated. Scanning area for viable hosts…

One (1) viable host found. Host chosen. Starting sealing process.

10% complete. 20% complete. 30% complete. ERROR Source: unidentified outside interference. 'Emergency Seal' protocol could not be completed. Reboot? Y/N

Reboot attempted. 'Emergency Seal' protocol initiated. Scanning area for viable hosts…

One (1) viable host found. Host chosen. ERROR Source: Host signature differs from previous host signature. Continue? Y/N

Continuation chosen. Starting sealing process. 10% complete…

100% complete. ERROR Source: unidentified outside interference. Sealing process may have been compromised. Reattempt sealing? Y/N

Reattempt initiated. ERROR Source: insufficient power supply. WARNING power level insufficient to continue operations. Initiating emergency shutdown.

* * *

"_Really."_

"_To play devil's advocate, it was close enough to the plan he suggested."_

"_I can tell that. It doesn't change the fact that he's insane."_

"_We both know that."_

_A sigh escaped his lips. "I suppose we have no choice but to wait."_

* * *

The small, blue-haired child opened his eyes.

Where was he?

He was lying in a white bed, staring up at a white ceiling. Old men in white coats hurried around him. Who were they?

One of them noticed him. "Finally, you're awake. How are you?"

The child didn't respond.

The man looked concerned. "Look… what do you remember?"

Again the child was silent.

The man looked away. "I don't want to be the one telling you this, but… your parents didn't make it."

His parents were dead?

Realisation dawned on the boy. He was alone.

_No. You are not alone._

The boy gave a small yelp of surprise. Where had the voice come from?

_Don't worry. They can't hear me._

Who are you?

_My name is Lyra. I'll always be here with you._

Someone would always be there with him.

The boy didn't feel so alone anymore.


	2. Chapter 1

"Arisato, do you know why you're here today?"

I looked around the principal's drab office. Nothing was particularly noteworthy – it was the exact same as every time I'd been here before. The same certificates lined the same dull walls. The same dusty shelves were lined with the same dusty books. The same fat principal stared at me with the same stern glare.

"I can guess it's for one of two things, but I'm not sure for which one."

"You're here for both."

I sighed. "You've talked to my psychologist. You know Lyra told me to do it."

The principal buried his face into his hands. "I know, even though, frankly, I don't believe you have a voice in your head. But surely you can resist the urge to do whatever it tells you?"

"I thought it would be more interesting if I did what she said."

"You cannot use 'I thought it would be interesting' as an excuse for theft and arson."

I smiled. "It's the excuse you're going to get."

The principal was on the verge of tearing his hair out. "Why, Minato, are you doing these things? You're one of the best students academically in the school. Why do you insist on stealing and burning things? You could be a shining example of the model student. Why don't you take that opportunity?"

"I don't feel like it."

The principal's nails dug into his scalp. It was always fun to watch him squirm. "I thought you would say that. If you're not going to change, I'm going to have to ask you to leave the school."

"Fine by me." More time to do stuff I wanted.

As I stood to leave the office for the last time, the principal's secretary rushed in. "Sir, a school just called about… oh, Minato-kun. A school called about you. They want to offer you a full scholarship! Isn't that great?"

The principal cleared his throat. "Which school called, and why?"

"Gekkoukan High, in Iwatodai City. They said that they were impressed by your academic record, and hoped to provide an environment where you could flourish. What do you say?"

I was about to shrug the offer off, when the principal spoke up. "Listen, boy. That school is one of the best in the country. If you do well there, you'll be set for life. You do not know how hard it is to get a place there. You are going to go there, and you are going to do well."

That settled it. If the principal wanted me to go, then I wouldn't. Just to see his reaction.

_You know, you shouldn't waste an opportunity like this._

Wait, Lyra wanted to make a point? She'd spent most of the last ten years telling me to steal and break and burn shit. Now she wanted me to do something constructive?

_Remember, I've always had your interests at heart. I'm in your head; I know half the time you only listen to me because you have nothing else to do. Obviously, the bigger city means more stuff to do. Who knows what great adventures wait for you there? And if you still get bored, the bigger city means more stuff to steal and break and burn._

Well, she did have a point. "I'll take their offer. I'm going back to the dorms to pack."

* * *

"The next stop is Iwatodai."

Iwatodai. For the first six years of my life, I'd lived in this city. I'd left when my parents died. Now, I was coming home.

I looked up at the clock. The train had been delayed, and it was nearly midnight. From the map I'd looked at earlier, I guessed I wouldn't be at my dorm until one o'clock. And the school term began tomorrow. Great.

I sighed. Nothing I could do about that now. The journey had been long enough to listen to my entire music library, but with an hour to go, I needed something to occupy my mind. I plugged in my headphones and set by iPhone on shuffle.

Just as the music began, the train stopped. "Iwatodai. This is the last train bound for Tatsumi Port Island. Please take care to board before our departure."

I took my bag and began the trek to the dorm. I skipped the first couple of songs, eventually settling on one that felt appropriate.

~_Sacred is the… gift that they have, without knoKZCLK_~

I frowned. When I'd rebooted my music up, I'd seen that my phone still had well over half its charge left; now, it had just gone completely dead. Sighing, I made a mental note to get it fixed, and put my headphones away again.

Then I noticed that the night sky was green, and that the moon was about four times larger than usual. Okay, so this wasn't normal.

Seriously, what was going on?

_You see, I told you that interesting things would happen here. Isn't this exciting?_

I let out a deep sigh and decided to ignore Lyra, instead continuing to walk to the dorm. I'd ask about this after getting some sleep.

The hour-long walk was uneventful, if I ignored the occasional dark coffin propped in the streets and complete lack of working streetlights. Finally, I reached the address mentioned in the admission pamphlet. The hall was dark, with only the front desk lit up by the same ominous green as the outside sky. A boy in striped pyjamas was standing there.

"Welcome. You're late," he said. "I've been waiting for a long time."

"Who are you?"

The boy smiled. "That doesn't matter. If you want to proceed, then please sign here. It's a contract. There's no need to be scared. It only binds you to accepting full responsibility for your actions."

On the paper now in front of him, one line was written: '_I chooseth this fate of my own free will.' _

Questions rose in my mind. Who is this kid? Why do I have to sign this? Is anyone else here? Seriously, what's up with everything outside?

_Just sign it. Right now, you want sleep, and also you want an interesting life. This can be your path to both._

Well, she had a point again. I grabbed a pen on the desk and scrawled my signature on the dotted line.

The boy smiled again. "Very well. You know, time is something no one can escape. It delivers us all to the same end. Wishing won't make it go away. And so it begins..."

I briefly pondered the significance of the boy's words, but before I could say anything, the boy seemed to dissolve into the darkness. Not weird at all, no way.

Then the rest of the lights came on (still the same odd greenish colour), to reveal a TV, a set of sofas, a stairway and a figure at the foot of them. "Who's there?" it asked. Finally, signs of other people. From the tone of the voice, I guessed this one was a guy.

I took a good look at the figure. Tall and skinny, he wore a blue shirt with black jeans and a black jacket, topping his short dark hair off with a baseball cap. He clutched a baseball bat with both his hands, and strapped to his leg was what appeared to be a gun.

I felt a sinking feeling that I was about to get the shit beaten out of me.

Just as I was about to get physically assaulted, another figure appeared at the top of the stairs. 'Iori, wait!' The boy in front of me stopped in his tracks.

Right then, the lighting in the room turned from green to normal. The boy seemed to relax slightly, while the newcomer glided down the stairs.

In a word, she was beautiful. Long red hair, ruffled white shirt with a red cravat, pleated black skirt, knee-high heeled boots… I imagine that most people would have started drooling right upon seeing her. At the same time, though, she was clearly the leader here – the boy visibly deferred as she passed.

"I didn't think you'd arrive so late. My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who live in this dorm."

"Who's he?" The capped boy asked. You know, I'm right here. You could have just asked me.

"He's a transfer student. It was a last minute decision to assign him here. He'll be moved to another dorm soon."

"Should he be here?"

"We'll see." She turned to face me directly. "This is Junpei Iori. He'll be a second year when term starts, like you."

Junpei scratched his head. "Hey… sorry about that. I thought you were a burglar, that's all. Yeah…" His voice trailed off.

I was content to ignore him and let him feel guilty, to extort things out of him later, but the voice interrupted again. _Don't be so quick to judge. There is no point in burning an unbuilt bridge._

She had never lectured me before. Why was she doing this now?

_Just saying, you should give this place a chance, before you start burning everything down._

I sighed again (I did that a lot). I knew that what she said made sense, and I was too tired to argue any more.

"It's no problem. If I heard someone come into my house in the dead of night, I'd be on his face in a second. No harm done."

Junpei's eyes widened. "Really? Wow, I was really expecting to get chewed out there. You're a good guy. I like you already." He flashed a grin. "As Mitsuru said, my name's Junpei Iori. What's yours?"

"Name's Minato Arisato. What's with the gun?"

"That?" His smile became sheepish. "It's just one of those starting guns for runners. See," he fired a bang up into the air, "just blanks. Good for scaring intruders, nothing else."

Mitsuru cleared her throat in disapproval. "Now is not the time for loud noises. I'm sure you both need rest. Arisato, your room is on the second floor, at the end of the corridor. Iori will show you the way." She glided back up the stairs.

As we began walking, Junpei began speaking again. "Yeah, Mitsuru's a bit of a stickler on formalities, but she's a warm enough person when you know her. Then again, if you're moving out anyway, that probably won't happen… I'm rambling now. I should stop. Do you have any questions?"

I asked the first one that came into my head. "What was with the weird kid by the reception?"

Surprise appeared on Junpei's face. "What kid?"

I slapped myself in the face. "Forget I said anything. I need sleep." I hear voices in my head already. Why shouldn't I see weird kids as well? Another step on the road to insanity.

"Sure. Everyone needs rest, especially with school starting tomorrow!" Junpei immediately turned his face downwards in an overly dramatic fashion. "Why… why… why… why must the education system be so cruel?!"

I smiled. Junpei seemed like a nice guy. Everyone needed plucky comic relief.

I turned to go into my room, but Junpei, having quickly returned to perkiness, tapped me on the shoulder. "Hey, before you go to sleep, I just need to ask: was everything alright on the way to here from the station?"

"If a green sky, giant moon and roads of coffins means 'normal', then yes." Not bothering to look for a reaction, I closed the door behind me, locked it and collapsed onto the bed.

The boy had been a hallucination, probably the moon and sky as well. Yep, definitely slowly going insane.

I fell asleep in my clothes. It had been a long day.


	3. Chapter 2

I dreamt that I was playing Diplomacy with Cthulhu. All the other players had long been reduced to spectators, and I was just about to take his supply centre in Fomalhaut, when _Knock Knock Knock._

I opened my bleary eyes and barely registered a voice. "Hey, it's Junpei! Did you sleep well? Mitsuru asked me to take you to school. You ready?"

"God no. I only woke up when you knocked the door."

"That's great, because we have to take the train, and the last one that will get us there on time leaves in ten minutes!"

"Screw it. I'm going back to sleep."

_You're really going to fight everything, aren't you?_

It's how I am now. You made me this way.

_I suppose that I did instil your apathy towards the system. But now, I believe it is in your best interests to follow the rules, at least for a while._

Why are you doing this now?

_I have my reasons. Trust me. If nothing interesting happens in the next three days, I'll accept that to satisfy your interests, I'll have to go back to telling you to burn things. You only have to work with the system for those three days. Is that acceptable?_

…Fine. Three days.

I turned back to reality, and noticed Junpei was still trying to convince me to leave. I picked out the words 'Mitsuru', 'Execute' and 'Extreme Pain'.

Sighing, I straightened up my clothes and opened the door. Junpei looked visibly relieved. "Phew. Do you know what I'd have done if you hadn't come? Because I don't. We have…" he looked down at his watch, and his eyes opened. "Seven minutes? We have to run. Right now." He took off, and I followed.

A brief dash through the streets of Iwatodai later, we barely made it onto the train. Junpei let out a deep breath of relief. "That was too close…"

"Eh. Not much harder than running from police."

Junpei looked at me skeptically. "Hold on. Why have you ever needed to run from the cops?"

I facepalmed. How had I let that slip out of my mouth? "You don't know? You haven't seen any of my records or anything?"

"Nope. Only the teachers have that information. Well, what have you done?"

I sighed. "If you really want to know, since I was six, I have personally caused over forty million yen of damage to this country's economy, partially through theft, but mostly through fire damage."

Junpei's jaw dropped. "No way. Seriously, who invited you to my school? And more importantly, why?"

"I don't know who invited me. I assumed it was the board or something. As to why I did it, it was mostly because a voice in my head told me to. I didn't mention that, did I?"

Junpei seemed to be briefly lost for words. "You hear voices?"

"Yep. Also since I was six. That was why I started."

"What's it like?" He seemed genuinely curious.

I shrugged. "It's difficult to describe. You start by thinking you're insane, then you think everyone else's insane, then you just get used to it. Honestly, I'm surprised you asked about it. Everyone else just tends to back away slowly when they hear about it." Yep, some of those who had overheard were moving away.

"Dude, you serious? I think it's really sick!" What. "I mean, it's almost like a superpower. Always having someone on hand, to whisper elder knowledge into your mind… actually, if it tells you to burn things, it wouldn't be like that at all, would it? Still, I think it's sweet. And hey, you haven't burnt anything here yet, so that's cool."

To be honest, it felt good to not have someone run away when they learnt of my problems. Then again, I had never openly told anyone else before. I wasn't sure why I'd told Junpei, but it felt good regardless.

"Hey, Minato…" Junpei leant over to me. "About last night. Don't tell anyone about what happened, alright?"

"About the moon and sky? That was real?"

"Yep. You know it's not normal, and if you told anyone, it would just freak them out. So don't."

"Alright. Can you tell me about it, though?"

Junpei tugged at his collar. "Eh… I'd want to, but I don't think I can. Ask Mitsuru, alright?"

I nodded. Conversation changed to more mundane things. Where I'd come from (outskirts of Tokyo). What school had been like there (dull as shit). How many schools I'd been expelled from (seven). Why I'd been expelled from the last one (broke into the computer suites, stole two brand-new PCs and torched the place). Why I hadn't been arrested ('psychological factors' was a surprisingly durable excuse).

The train started turning, and Junpei perked up. "Check this out. You get a great view of the school from here."

I looked out of the window, and saw an island. "Where's the school on the island?"

"It is the island."

My jaw dropped. "Really? It's that large?"

Junpei shrugged. "Well, maybe it's not all the island, but definitely most of it. The island's man made, you know. Some students say that there are tunnels under the school leading to the depths of the earth. What do you think?"

The rumour was clearly shit, but I was still stunned by the scale of the school. It was probably as big as my last five, all put together. "Wow…" I couldn't say anymore.

_This whole school business isn't so bad, is it?_

This place might just prove interesting enough.

* * *

"You're okay from here, right?"

The terminal had been right outside the school. We quickly checked our classroom assignments – both in 2-F, yeah, high-five – and Junpei had told me to introduce myself to the homeroom teacher in the faculty office. I waved him off.

Soon, I found myself standing in front of a brown-haired, brown-jacketed female teacher. "Are you the new student? 11th grade, correct?"

I nodded. She began thumbing through my file. "Sorry, I haven't had the time to read this. Let's see… sterling academic record… oh." She frowned. "Theft… expulsions… arson? Psychological issues… and in 1999, your parents… oh."

She turned to look at me. "Sorry. I can't imagine what life's been like for you. I'm Ms. Toriumi. I teach composition. Welcome to our school."

She stuck out her hand, likely from unneeded pity, but I shook it anyway. Work with the system, Minato. "Nice to meet you."

She smiled. "Have you seen the classroom assignments? You're in 2-F, my class. But first, the welcome ceremony's starting. We should go to the auditorium. I'll show you the way."

* * *

I slept straight through the ceremony. Junpei later told me that I hadn't missed much.

* * *

After I introduced myself to the class (not mentioning the voice or the arson or anything), lessons that day were dull refreshers, which meant I would have slept through them, except…

_Obey the system. Obey the system. Obey the system._

She droned on and on, so I settled for staring out of the window. And then, the final bell rang.

"Hey! You're the transfer student, right?" someone called from behind me. I turned to see a pretty brunette in a pink cardigan and a really, really short skirt. How lax was the uniform here?

Wait, she was still in front of me. "Hey. Who are you?"

She smiled. "My name's Yukari Takeba. Nice to meet you. I've been living in Iwatodai for all my life, so if you need any help, just ask, okay?"

"Sure." I really wasn't sure what to say, but then Junpei swept in to stop the awkwardness and save the day.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Yuka-tan, ready to sink her teeth into another unsuspecting victim. What will happen? Will he escape her clutches? Or will the pink sniper bind another heart to her forever?"

"W-what?" Yukari blushed. She was cute when flustered. "Sh-shut up, Stupei! You know I was just being friendly, that's all!"

"She's on the retreat. She knows she's losing this battle. But is the war over?" Ah, watching Junpei press all of her pressure points was amazing.

Junpei then turned to me. "Hey, you haven't told anyone about last night, have you?"

Yukari perked up. "What happened last night?"

I decided to have some fun. "Not much. I arrived at the dorm late, and Junpei thought I was an intruder, and tried to beat me up with a baseball bat, and failed so badly. It was a sight to see."

Yukari started guffawing, and Junpei's eyes widened, before falling down, clutching his heart in mock agony. "Nooo! Why did you have to unveil the terrible truth? Now you have spoken those unspeakable words, I know not what hurts more: my pride, or my face from last night. How will I ever live this one out?"

Yukari burst into laughter, and I smiled. Junpei was taking it way better than I thought he would. Some strangers around us began laughing as well.

Junpei climbed back to his feet, pretending to wipe sweat from his forehead. "Well, now everyone knows. If anyone wants me, I'll be at baseball club, trying not to die in a hole from the shame."

Junpei left, and Yukari had just about recovered her speech. "Junpei… he's the class clown, but he's good enough that everyone likes him. Your dorm's going to be great." Her face fell slightly. "Everyone in my dorm just spends all their time studying… it's really dull."

_Make a bridge. Don't burn it yet._

You really like that metaphor, don't you?

_It's a good metaphor._

"If you're not busy, do you want to do something now?"

Yukari's face lit up, then fell again. "I'd love to, but I have to do some things for archery club today. Are you free tomorrow?"

"Sure. I'll make some time."

"Great! So it's a date!" She left before I could say anything.

Around me, people were already whispering.

"He got right in there, didn't he?"

"People are going to be so jealous…"

I was fine with their whispers. Chances were she would run away when she found out about my past. With nothing else to do, I decided to walk back to the dorm.

Just as I arrived, I caught sight of a tall, silver-haired boy in a red waistcoat leaving the dorm. He ran off without seeing me.

When I entered, Mitsuru was seated on one of the sofas. "Who was that, just leaving?" I asked.

She looked up, slightly surprised. "Him? Oh, that would be Akihiko Sanada. He's a senior, like I am. You don't need to worry about him. How was your first day at your new school?"

I shrugged. "It was okay. I mean, I still need to get used to it, but I already quite like the environment there." Yep. Grovelling to the system.

She smiled. "Très bien." Yay for gratuitous foreign languages. "Now, Arisato. I'm sure you're tired; you did have a late night. Why don't you go to bed early?"

I tried to vocalise a response, but she looked straight at me with her piercing, reddish-brown eyes, and anything I tried to say just melted in my throat. I meekly nodded and climbed up to my room.

Since I didn't want to sleep quite yet, I dug out my laptop and booted up Magic Online for a few hours, before turning in.

* * *

Junpei woke me up again, which meant we had to run for the last train again. Great. We made small talk, which eventually turned to other people in the class.

"So, you and Yukari-san, amirite?"

"I don't see your point, Junpei."

Junpei slouched down, somewhat deflated. "Come on, dude. She's like, the most popular girl in the year. Don't you see how hot she is?"

I shrugged. "She's not bad, but she's not Mitsuru." That drew a whistle from Junpei. I continued. "Anyway, even if it did start up, I doubt it would last. Voices and shit."

A devious smile crept across Junpei's face. "Well, a little birdie told me that you two have already arranged your first date tonight. You can't hide the truth from Junpei Iori, Ace Detective!"

I facepalmed. "She's the one who claimed it was a date. I was just trying to be friendly."

"Are you saying that if she's all over you, that you're going to turn her down?"

"God no. I'm still a human." That drew a high five.

* * *

Again, I would have slept through lessons had Lyra not been shouting at me all the time, which meant I was actually paying attention for once, so I bailed Junpei out of a question where he'd switched off. All of it was still boring, though.

Finally, school ended, and Yukari walked up to me. "Ready to go?" she asked. "I know a great coffee shop."

"Sounds good. Let's go." I ignored the whispers rising up again.

She took me to a place called Café Chagall. Apparently, their signature 'pheromone coffee' had the power to make people more charming. I did see people looking at me, but I felt that was more because of Yukari's presence than the coffee.

"So, how was archery club?" I asked, looking to break the ice.

"Huh? Oh, it was okay. Some of our best shooters left last year, and everyone else is a bit out of practice, so there's work to be done, but I think the team could be good this year." She sipped her coffee. Latte. Why did anyone drink latte? Espresso was so much better.

_Pay attention to her and stop monologuing._

She started talking again? "…why don't you join a club? I mean, the school doesn't let new students join straight away, but I'm sure you'll do well. What's your favourite sport?"

I shrugged. "I don't do sport. The closest thing I do is play Magic: The Gathering."

She blinked a few times in surprise. "Really? And here I had you pegged as the deep, athletic type." She took another sip of coffee. "By the way… are the rumours about you true?"

I looked into her eyes. "What rumours?"

She flinched slightly, and broke from my gaze. "It's just… someone said they saw your record lying on Toriumi's desk, and they said it was filled with thefts and things. That can't be true, can it?"

Two days for it all to come out. That was a new record. I sighed. "It is true. I'm not going to deny it. Now, what does that matter to you?"

She paused briefly. "Honestly, not much." Wait, what? How was everyone here so open? "I mean, I don't think you should use the past to judge people. Sometimes, what they did wasn't their fault or anything. I think you should have time to make a name for yourself before anyone judges you completely."

"That's remarkably noble of you."

She smiled. "Thanks. It's just, my past wasn't especially warm either. I mean, it wasn't like yours or anything, it was… sorry, I shouldn't trouble you with my past. Let's talk about something else." Evidently, that was a sensitive issue for her.

We continued chatting until it began to get dark. Yukari helped me back to the dorm (I know I would have got lost otherwise), then we said goodbye.

Junpei was already back, and he was talking to an older, bespectacled man with a brown mullet, with a black turtleneck under a brown jacket.

"Hey, look who's back!" Junpei spoke up. "How was your date?"

"It wasn't a date, but I found out that rumours about me are already flying about."

"You mean about how you and Yukari are already a couple?"

"No, about how I go crazy and steal and burn shit." That drew an awkward silence.

The older man cleared his throat. "So, this is our new guest. Good evening. I'm Shuji Ikutsuki, the Chairman of the Board for your school, and the one who issued your invitation. 'Ikutsuki'… hard to say, isn't it?"

I blinked. Was this meant to be a joke? He continued.

"Anyway, I came here to check if you were settling in properly. Some members of the board were worried about you, with your previous record and all, so I came to make sure everything was okay. Everyone's been treating you well? Any big issues?"

"Everything's fine. I haven't felt the urge to burn anything yet."

The chairman smiled. "Good, good. I apologize for the confusion about your accommodation. However, it may be some time before you receive your correct room assignment."

"That's fine. I'm beginning to like it here."

"Excellent. I hope you'll have a successful school year. Now then, if you'll excuse me, but you must be tired – the first few days are always the worst. You should go to bed early. As they say, 'the early bird gets the bookworm'!" Oh God no. It burns.

_I've heard jokes that are so much worse. Just saying. Hey, what do you get when you cross two slices of bread and a fishman?_

I don't want to know.

Ikutsuki had left, and Junpei spoke up again. "Don't worry. After twenty or so, they stop hurting."

"Why has no-one made him stop? That 'joke' was an aberration! You know what? Don't answer that. I'm going to sleep. Just listening to that agony drained me completely."

Junpei made some noise. I ignored it. I went straight to my room, locked the door, collapsed on the bed and fell asleep.

* * *

"Welcome to the Velvet Room, my dear young man."

Okay… so this is weird.

I was in a large blue room, seated at a table, with an old man seated opposite me, and a young blonde woman by his side. The back wall of the room was made of some kind of wire mesh, showing the room was moving upwards, like an elevator. A large clock hung on that wall, its hands spinning continuously.

"My name is Igor…" the old man said. He wore a black suit, but his swollen, bloodshot eyes and long nose were more noteworthy. And by 'long', I mean that it stuck out of his face by a good foot.

"And I am Elizabeth," the woman added. She was dressed all in blue, like an airline stewardess. She watched me with a pair of gleaming yellow eyes. "We are delighted to meet your acquaintance."

I was confused. "Where am I?"

Igor chuckled. "You are in the Velvet Room. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter… I have summoned you here from your dreams."

I still didn't get it. Igor's smile widened. "Do not worry. You will understand soon enough.

"Now, only those who have signed a contract may enter here. Do you remember?" The sheet of paper appeared in front of me. Of course I remember it. That was the night everything went crazy.

Igor seemed to sense this, and continued. "Henceforth, you will be welcome here in the Velvet Room. You will be destined to hone your unique ability, and you will require our help to do so. I only ask one thing: that you abide by the contract you have signed. Is that alright?"

I nodded. "I have some other questions…"

"Hush. Do not worry. There will be plenty of time for questions later. For now, hold onto this." He handed over a triangular blue key.

"What is this?"

"This is the Velvet Key. With it, you shall forever be welcome here, until your contract is fulfilled. Now, we shall meet again soon. Until then, farewell…"

I tried to speak, but something sucked me backwards, out of the elevator, and then I was falling, endlessly falling…

I woke up with a jolt. That had to have been a dream, right?

_Nope. Look what's in your hand._

A triangular blue key…

Shit. That was real? It couldn't be real, though. It was just a dream…

_Before you panic excessively, remember you have one more day before we agreed that you could go burn things. If you want to go crazy, wait until then._

Good. Good idea, Lyra. One more day, then go crazy. Put down the key, then go back to sleep.

* * *

Going back to sleep had just made me dream of that room again, and I was mostly out of it the next day. While I had mostly recovered from the shock of the moment, I still spent all of my time wondering how that key had become real. And what did Igor mean by 'between dream and reality'? After deep thought, I concluded that my grip on reality was becoming more and more tenuous.

My mood must have been obvious, because Junpei and Yukari attempted to ask what was up. I brushed them off with some excuses about nightmares and voices. It was close enough to the truth.

I left immediately after the bell, ignoring the whispers around me. Honestly, with everything beginning to seem like (what I imagined was) a giant acid trip, burning things would be a welcome release.

_Are you just going to give up?_

Yes. Yes I am.

_Fine. Just wait until the morning to start burning things. It'll be more fun that way._

Yes. Yes it will.

I went straight to bed when I got back to the dorm.

* * *

I was playing Diplomacy with Cthulhu again when _Crash._

A sharp judder shook the entire dorm. Half-dazed, I stumbled to my feet. Everything was green, like it had been the night I'd arrived.

Someone slammed into the door. "Minato, wake up!" It was Junpei. "I'm coming in!"

Unfortunately for him, I'd still locked the door last night. Thus, when I opened the door, Junpei was in the middle of trying to barge it down, resulting in him falling on his face. "Junpei, what's happening?"

He immediately bounced back up. "No time to explain. Follow me, and take this." He handed me a shortsword.

Wait. This wasn't fake. It was real, as in sharp, stabby, and more than capable of cutting someone's arm off. I seriously questioned Junpei's judgement in giving me such an object.

_Focus on the issues at hand, Minato._

To emphasise the point, the dorm shook again.

"Just come with me!" Junpei shouted. He ran down the stairs; I didn't really have any choice but to follow.

We were running through the lounge when Junpei stopped abruptly, putting a finger to his ear. "Mitsuru?" Some sort of earpiece. "What do you mean, there's more than one? Well, shit." Something crashed onto the back door of the dorm.

"Junpei, what the hell is going on?"

Junpei was uttering more swears under his breath. "We're going to have to go to the roof. Follow me." He dragged me up the stairs, ignoring my question, all the while hearing crashes from below and feeling the dorm shake.

Finally, we reached the roof. Junpei quickly locked the door behind him, and I took the opportunity to speak again. "Seriously, what the hell is going on?"

"Well… oh, SHIT." Junpei's gaze was firmly fixed on something behind me. I turned, and saw several dark, ichorous hands clutching the edge of the roof. A blue mask poked up, clutched by another hand.

Then more hands appeared, each clutching a blade as long as the one in my hand.

Slowly but surely, a mangled horror of limbs climbed onto the roof.

Junpei grabbed my collar and pulled me back. "These things are called Shadows. I'll explain later." He pulled out the starting pistol from his pocket and pressed it to his head. Wait, what? Even though it was a fake, pretending to shoot yourself seemed like it could be psychologically damaging.

"Right now, though," Junpei continued, "just stay back, and let me take care of thi- _urk_" he uttered, as the Shadow – as Junpei had called it – seemed to emit a blast of wind that knocked him over. His starting pistol landed by my feet.

Still clueless as to what was going on, I stared blankly at the Shadow for a few seconds, dimly aware that it could probably rip me into shreds in a heartbeat.

"Go on…" I looked in the direction of the new voice. It was that boy in the pyjamas, from before. "Don't worry…" With his fingers, he mimed a gun pressed against his head. Just like what Junpei had been doing.

I picked up the gun. It wasn't real. Shooting myself wouldn't do anything, would it? I'd be torn apart by this mass of limbs either way.

I was going to die, wasn't I?

I froze to the ground in fear. My heart raced, and I felt sweat bead down my face as the thing turned to look at me.

_The boy's right. Don't worry. What do you have to lose?_

She was right. If I did nothing, I would be guaranteed to die. Maybe shooting myself with a fake gun might actually do something.

I steadied my breathing, pressed the gun to my temple and prepared to pull the trigger.

_Follow what I say. Per…_

"Per…"

…_so…_

"…so…"

…_na._

"…na."

I pulled the trigger, and everything turned to light.


	4. Chapter 3

As the light began to fade, everything was blue. Shards of what looked like glass flew all around me, and I had no idea what was going on.

From nowhere, I heard a thin, screechy voice behind me.

**Thou Art I**

I turned to see the glassy fragments coalescing. As each piece joined, the resulting shape looked more and more like a human figure.

**And I Am Thou**

The blue faded, and the figure began to take further form. Tall, thin, it wore a blotched black and white tunic and leggings, and sported a black hat with a white feather.

**From the Sea of Thy Soul, I Cometh**

I still had no idea what was going on. Everything was so surreal – the greenness, the shaking, the Shadow, and now this – I fully expected that this was all a dream, and that I would wake up tomorrow and go crazy.

The last pieces of glass formed into a wooden flute in the figure's hand.

**I Am the Pied Piper, Leader of the Dance**

The 'Pied Piper' let out a shrill laugh.

Wake up, Minato. This is all absurd.

_No, Minato. This isn't a dream, and this is real._

Almost as if emphasising Lyra's point, pain shot through my entire body. Every nerve, every muscle, every fibre in my body felt like it was being torn to pieces, almost as if my skin was falling off, revealing only dead flesh underneath.

Another, separate shriek of pain shot out, and I looked up towards the source – the Pied Piper. A grisly spectacle was waiting. While it felt like my skin was falling off, his skin actually was falling off. Yep, the flesh underneath was corroded and rotten as well.

Another convulsion, and his face wasted away into a bleached skull.

Another convulsion, and a pair of misshapen, bloodied wings burst out from his back.

Another convulsion, and the flute in his hand turned into a rusted, bloodstained trumpet.

Finally, the spasms ceased, and the pain subsided to a dull numbness at the back of my head. What had been the Pied Piper took to the air on its newfound wings. It was a perfect mockery of a majestic angel.

It stared at the mass of limbs with its empty eyes. The mask stared back.

For a few seconds, all was still.

Suddenly the Shadow pounced. Immediately, with one swift motion, the not-angel pulled its trumpet to its lips and blew.

The note was deafening. 'Note' probably wasn't the right word to describe it. It was more like a sonic boom, or a compressed explosion.

The shockwave smashed into the Shadow, breaking all of its momentum and shunting it backwards. The Shadow desperately sought any purchase it could against the onslaught, digging its knives into the roof or grasping for tiny nooks.

The trumpeter kept blowing harder and harder.

The Shadow began shaking violently, as if resonating with the force. Mask, arms, knives, all jerked and juddered, like a sapling about to be uprooted in a hurricane.

The trumpeter kept blowing.

Then the Shadow's body couldn't take anymore strain, and it exploded in a shower of ichor, mask bursting into countless shards.

Finally the trumpet stopped. Its player fell to the ground, instrument limply by its side. In another flash of light, it transformed back into the Pied Piper.

A heavy wave of fatigue washed over me. I felt tired – more tired than I'd ever felt before. I didn't know why, but all I wanted to do was to curl up and sleep.

I heard… something? I wasn't sure. I looked up to see a pile of ichor forming from the remains of the Shadow. There was a sense of malice in its eyes.

_You have to destroy it._

Just give me a moment.

_You don't have a moment. It will end you if it has the opportunity._

Fine. I willed my legs to move.

Nothing happened.

I tried again, and nothing happened.

I sighed. Too tired. Couldn't do anything. The thing was getting closer. Eyes were getting heavier. I fell to my knees. Sleepy…

Footsteps. A voice. "I'll take it from here." Junpei? He took the gun.

The light began to fade. A faint sound. Herms? Worms? I didn't know. I just wanted to sleep.

I passed out.

* * *

"It's so nice to see you again."

Not this place again…

Yes, I was back in the blue room with Igor and Elizabeth. Presumably my mind would be even more screwed over by the time this conversation was done.

Igor gave an unnerving smile. "Do not be alarmed. You became unconscious after awakening to your power. It's nothing to be worried about, though."

"What do you mean, power?"

"That power is called Persona… a manifestation of your psyche, a facet of your personality. You can think of it as a mask that protects you from life's hardships…"

I blinked several times. "You lost me."

Igor grinned even more wildly. "I see I will have to explain more clearly, then. By pressing an Evoker to your head and pulling the trigger, you brought forth the power that had long been dormant inside of you."

I paused to think. "By 'Evoker', do you mean that fake gun?"

Igor nodded in approval. "You are an observant one. Soon, your awakened power will be your sword and shield in your upcoming trials. Others will soon explain this to you. You must merely be patient, and not dive in recklessly. Do you understand?"

I slowly nodded. "I think so…" I still had a lot of questions, but having some explanation, no matter how vague, did soothe my nerves. Having shot something out of the depths of my mind also made my previous experience with this room, of waking up with that key in my hand, seem less surreal.

Igor continued. "That being said, your power is still weak. When you channel your new Persona ability, you must call upon your inner strength. Your ability will evolve as you develop your Social Links – your bonds to others. The stronger your social links, the greater your power will evolve."

I took a deep breath. "I think I understand. To summarise everything you've told me, shooting myself with that Evoker caused my power – Persona – to awaken. That power is based on my thoughts in some way or another; if bits of my mind can become real, getting that key from my dreams seems slightly less absurd. Anyway, I have this power now, and to strengthen it I need to become closer to others. Is that right?"

Igor nodded in approval. "That is the crux of the matter, yes. However, do note if you consider someone as a source of power alone, then you will never become close enough to hold true power. Can you remember this?"

I clapped my hands together. "Got it. Don't be a manipulative bastard."

Igor chuckled, but then his expression fell. "By the way, I saw that it was the Pied Piper who heeded your calling. That was most unexpected. All of my readings had predicted someone else to come." His grin abruptly returned. "Still, perhaps all that means is that your power is wilder than expected. Who knows to what heights your power could reach? And besides, perhaps the one I predicted could come again to aid you at another point."

At this sudden onrush of information, questions flooded my mind. "What do you mean? What did you predict? How is my power wild? What do you mean by aid?"

Igor let out a deep, soul-rending laugh. "Next time we meet, when you come here of your own accord, I will explain these things to you, and more. But I should not keep you here any longer. Time marches on in your world. Before you go, though, I should mention one last thing…" His voice trailed off.

I leant closer to him. "Go on."

"Always remember that no matter what anyone else says, you have your own free will. Yes, you could run away from responsibility forever, but it is only by seizing the initiative that we reach our true potential."

Before I could respond, Igor smiled again. "Now then… farewell." Again something tugged at me from behind, and I was falling through inky blackness.

* * *

"Urgh…"

My mind was slowly getting clearer. It felt like I'd been asleep for months.

With effort, I unscrewed my eyes. Everything was white. Hospital. Like that time after…

"Hey, you're awake."

I turned to see Junpei, letting out a deep yawn. "How long have I been asleep?"

Junpei smiled. "Over a week. The doctors couldn't find anything wrong with you. They just said you were exhausted. You just kept sleeping, though. Everyone was worried. Good that you're up now, though."

I shifted slightly in bed. "Thanks for looking out for me…"

"You kidding?" Junpei interrupted. "I don't why you decided to shoot yourself, but if you hadn't, we'd both be zombies now. You saved our bacon. Your power… it was sick."

I chuckled slightly. "Thanks. Can you tell me more about that? I mean, what did I actually do?" While Igor almost certainly had all the answers, he seemed to enjoy withholding them all. Information from other sources would help immensely.

"Well…" Junpei scratched his head. "I'd like to, but Mitsuru and the Chairman said they want to explain it directly to you when you woke up. You should be able to get out later today. They'll tell you in the evening, okay?"

I sighed. "Okay." Half a day to wait for some answers. That was tolerable.

_Boo on waiting. We agreed that this was the time you would start burning things._

If nothing interesting happened. This is interesting enough that I'm willing to see what happens.

_You gave up on that. It was this sort of stuff – that key – which made you want to burn everything just before you fell asleep. How is it going to be any different now?_

We won't know until we get there.

_Fine. I see your mind is made up. Remember, pyromania is always an option._

"I'm curious, though…" Junpei's voice brought me back to reality. "How did you know to mention the word 'Persona'? I mean, none of us told you it or anything, so…?"

"The voice in my head told me."

Junpei frowned. "Wait, so Lyra knows about Personas and stuff?"

It was my turn to be puzzled. "How do you know I call her Lyra?"

"Oh, the Chairman decided to have you transferred to the dorm permanently. He showed your record to everyone already there, so we could help you settle in more readily. You should have seen Mitsuru's face when she saw half of what you did! I have to say, you really sold yourself short on the train."

I facepalmed. "Please don't bring up my past. I'm sort of trying to make a new start here."

Junpei smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. Didn't mean to be insensitive. In that case, though, you probably won't be happy with the reason we gave to school for your absence.

I sighed. "What did you tell them?"

"We told them that you heard the rumours about you, and the resulting destruction of your reputation before it could even be built caused you to have a small psychological breakdown." What? "Is that fine?" He looked even more sheepish.

I facepalmed again, this time harder. "You really couldn't think of anything better?"

"Well, we tried to tell them you just had a cold, but that stopped holding up after the first three days, and the school decided you were just skiving, based on your record. Honestly, that was the only way we could think of for getting you back in without repercussions. Can you think of anything better?"

I stopped to think for several long seconds, then several more, and then several more. "I see your point."

An awkward silence filled the room. "What were we talking about earlier?" Junpei asked. "Oh yeah, Lyra. Everyone saw your psychologist's report. Why do you think she knew about Personas?"

Lyra, why do you know about Personas?

_There are things which man was never meant to know._

"She's being vague and unresponsive."

"Huh? Of course, you can talk to her. Anyway, I need to be going now. Mitsuru said I needed to help with some things to do with you formally moving into the dorm, okay?"

"Sure. I fully expect a hot tub in my room when I get back."

"In your dreams, maybe."

"Nah. My dreams are filled with old people with long noses, and board games with cosmic monstrosities."

We had a brief laugh, before a doctor shooed Junpei away to do some tests on me.

As I settled back while the doctor took my pulse, I let out a calm sigh. For the first time in my life, I was beginning to feel settled in one place. It felt good.

* * *

A couple of tests, a few forms to sign, and once they were sure I was all healthy, I was discharged from the hospital just as evening began to fall. One uneventful walk later, it was already dark by the time I got back to the dorm.

I was greeted by a note telling me to go up to the fourth floor meeting room.

The meeting room was similar to the ground floor lounge, being centred about a set of sofas around a large coffee table. While the sofas did look slightly more expensive than the ones in the lounge, the main difference was the giant bank of computer consoles lining one of the meeting room's walls.

Everyone was there. "Welcome, Arisato. Please take a seat," Mitsuru greeted me. I obliged.

"Could you please tell me what's going on?" I asked.

"Jumping straight to the point, are we?" Ikutsuki quipped. "Before I do, though, I should introduce you to Akihiko Sanada." He gestured at the silver-haired boy that I'd seen leaving the other day. He looked upbeat, despite his left arm hanging in a sling.

He stuck out his good hand. "How ya doin'?"

I shook it. "Better than you, it looks like."

That earnt a glare from Mitsuru, but Akihiko just laughed. "Good one. You've got a nerve. I like you already."

Ikutsuki cleared his throat. "Ahem… back to business. Minato, let me start off by asking you this: would you believe me if I told you a day consists of more than twenty-four hours?"

I considered my words. "Ordinarily, no, but given that you asked me that very specific question, my guess is that you'll have some conclusive evidence to prove the existence of a twenty-fifth hour or something, whereupon I'll have to believe you."

Ikutsuki gave a creepy smile, not dissimilar to one of Igor's. "My, you're a sharp one. Do you remember the night you came here?"

"When everything was green?"

He nodded. "That very night. You had to have noticed things were wrong: the streetlights were out, the streets were lined with coffins, the moon was huge, not to mention the greenness, as you put it. Didn't you feel like you were in a different time?"

I paused. "I don't follow."

Ikutsuki adjusted his glasses. "Every night, at midnight, the world turns green and grim for one hour. We call that hour the 'Dark Hour'. Think of it as a time hidden between one day and the next."

I paused again. After shooting myself had caused something to materialise, this wasn't too hard to believe, but I wanted as much information as possible. "What do you mean by 'hidden between'?"

"During the dark hour, everything stops. Cars, animals, electricity, even time itself." So that was why my phone had cut out. I hadn't used it since; well, now I knew it wasn't broken.

Ikutsuki continued, "That last one is especially important. When the Dark Hour begins, it's midnight, and when it ends, it's still midnight. That's how it's hidden between two days.

"As you can guess, most people aren't aware of the Dark Hour. During the Dark Hour, ordinary people turn into those coffins you saw. We call this Transmogrification."

Akihiko interrupted, sounding excited. "That's not the most interesting part, though. You saw that thing… it was one of what we call 'Shadows'. They only appear during the Dark Hour, and attack anyone not in a coffin. It's our job to defeat them. Sounds exciting, huh?"

"Akihiko!" Mitsuru shouted. "Why are you always like this? You just got hurt the other day."

"Now, now, Mitsuru," Ikutsuki chided, "He does his job well. Returning to the matter at hand," he continued, turning his attention back to me, "to conclude, we're the Specialised Extracurricular Execution Squad, or SEES for short. On paper, we're a school club, but in reality, this group is dedicated to defeating the Shadows. Mitsuru is the club leader, and I'm the advisor."

He took out a briefcase from under the desk. "There are some rare individuals who can operate in the Dark Hour. Some even awaken to a power with which to fight the Shadows. That power is Persona – the same power you awakened to on the roof. Only you can defeat the Shadows."

He opened the briefcase. Inside was a red armband with 'SEES' written on it – I looked up and saw Mitsuru, Akihiko and Junpei (who had been unusually quiet) all wore one of these bands – and what I assumed was an Evoker, guessing from its shape and what Igor had told me.

"We want you to lend us your aid." He finally got to the point.

I looked at the case, then back to him, then back to the case, then back to him. "Before I commit to anything, I have a few questions."

Ikutsuki leant back in his armchair. "Sure. Go ahead."

"I'll start with the most obvious. What exactly are these Shadows?"

Mitsuru answered it. "Shadows are the eternal enemy of mankind."

It took me a few seconds to realise she stopped speaking. "That's it? Did you never stop to wonder what was creating them, or why they ended up hating us humans?"

Mitsuru shifted uncomfortably. "I will admit, we were not concerned with the origins of the Shadows. Our main goal is to protect people from Shadow attacks: Shadows attack their victim's brain, leaving behind a walking corpse. They're responsible for most of the incidents on the news."

I didn't watch the news, but whatever. "Alright. Next question: what exactly is this 'Persona' power?"

An awkward silence filled the air, before Mitsuru attempted to answer. "Well, the origin of this power was another thing we did not consider, because…"

"Kill Shadows, save people. I get it. Next: what's the cover story for SEES as a club?"

Ikutsuki took this one. "On paper, SEES stands for 'Specialised Extracurricular Elocution Squad'. In theory, our club's goal is to develop the leadership and public speaking skills of special individuals, for high-ranking positions in politics, civil service or the like. With me as the advisor, everyone finds it believable."

I nodded. "Okay. Last question: what caused the Dark Hour?"

The silence returned as no-one attempted to answer the question. I noticed Mitsuru shift in discomfort again for a brief moment.

I facepalmed. These people weren't filling me with the greatest confidence.

_You see, this is why you should go back to pyromania._

That didn't seem like such a bad idea right now.

I was about to tell them to piss off, when Junpei suddenly began speaking. "Hold up, hold up, Minato! Is Lyra there with you?" Everyone else looked at him in surprise.

I blinked. Where was he going with this? "Of course she is."

"What's she telling you right now?"

Well…

_Burn. Burn. Buuurrrrrrnnn._

"She's telling me to go on an arson spree, and honestly I'm thinking of listening to her."

Junpei gave a smile, beginning to look like a door-to-door salesman. "Well, this is your once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Tired of cooping up that voice everyday? Want to let her out, but don't want to get arrested? What if I told you that, for a limited time only, you have the chance to do just that?"

Everyone was looking at him in confusion and shock, but Junpei ploughed on regardless. "Yes, what if I told you that you could vent all your impulses whilst even doing the world a favour? I present to you, courtesy of the Dark Hour: the Shadows!

"Yes, a thing which actively wants to be, needs to be eradicated: such a thing does exist! Just think about it: countless waves of faceless Shadows, ready for you to slice, dice, break and burn at your heart's content!

"'Oh my god!' I hear you cry, 'how can I take advantage of this great offer?' Well, that would be simple: all you have to do, for a one-off fee – wait, what's that? Hold your horses, I'm just received confirmation that for a limited time, we are waiving all fees! That's right, this amazing service can be all yours for free, if you join SEES right now!

"What's more, we have a special limited time bonus offer going on right now! If you join within the next five minutes, you could walk away with this custom-made Evoker and commemorative armband! Ordinarily, I don't know how much extra these bonuses would cost you, but it would certainly be a pretty penny!

"Just think of the benefits and savings! Right now, you stand to get for free what countless others would be willing to pay thousands for! An outlet for every dark thought you ever get, all the while doing the world a great favour: don't miss out on this incredible offer! Don't delay, join SEES today!"

You could hear a pin drop in the ensuing silence.

_That was a load of crap. Why don't we start with this dorm?_

"You sold me. I'm in."

_Wait, what?_

I like his attitude. Besides, what does it matter to you what I set on fire? You never seemed to care much if it was buildings, trash cans or trees. Why should Shadows be any different?

_Are you really sure about this? If you go down this path, I can assure you that you will experience every sort of pain_

I hesitated. Everyone looked at me, as if not believing what I'd just said. The contract I'd signed flashed back into my mind. _I choose this fate of my own free will._ Lyra claimed that pain would come on this path… could I accept that?

They all continued to stare at me, unsure what to say or do.

I continued to think, then steadied my breathing.

"Didn't you hear me? I said I'm in."

_To have chosen this path… I hope it does not consume you._

Everyone looked visibly relieved. They all stood up, and Mitsuru stepped forward. "I'm glad you made that decision." We shared a handshake.

A dull _**Crack**_ filled my mind, and time seemed to stop. Alright, this was unexpected.

_**Thou art I… and I am thou…**_

This voice wasn't Lyra. It was much richer and deeper, and created a sense of icy mountains.

An image of a card appeared in my head. A man with a bindle and a dog, wandering aimlessly. Underneath, the number zero was written.

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Fool Arcana…**_


	5. Chapter 4

Just as abruptly as time had stopped, it started again. Everyone else continued milling about, seemingly oblivious to what I had felt.

Lyra, do you know what that was?

_My guess is that was the 'Social Link' stuff Igor was talking about. Chances are, you'll be experiencing that a lot. And before you ask, no, I don't know who that mysterious voice was. Sorry._

No problem. Thanks for helping.

"Glad to have you aboard," Ikutsuki said, bringing me back to reality. "And about your room assignment: feel free to stay here, with the rest of SEES. I'm not sure what the delay with your accommodation was, but I guess it worked out in the end." He gave a slight chuckle.

I nodded. I wasn't going to bring up that time freeze for obvious reasons, and I had nothing else to add.

"It's getting late," Mitsuru commented. "You should probably be getting some rest; we can sort out the rest of the process tomorrow." I was ready to object, but I was interrupted by a heavy yawn that reminded me I had only got out of hospital earlier that day.

"Sure. See you all tomorrow." Another round of handshakes later, I was walking back to my room. I was asleep in minutes.

I dreamt that I was the mass of limbs that had been on the room, when the trumpeter that had burst out of the Pied Piper swept down and ate me. That was rather freaky.

A soft voice woke me up. "Hi, how are you?"

I rubbed my eyes, noticing everything was green – the Dark Hour – and looked up at the familiar voice. It took me a few seconds to recognise him as the same boy as before, from the lobby and the roof, still in the same striped pyjamas. "You…"

The boy gave a light laugh. "Hello again, Minato."

"How did you get in here?"

He continued smiling. "Didn't you realise? I came here with you. After all, I'm always with you." What. Always with me? I knew I hadn't seen him before I'd come to this city. Lyra, do you what he's talking about?

_Not a clue. I don't know who he is either. Sorry._

"Anyway," the boy continued, "I came to tell you something. Soon, the end will come. I remembered, so I thought I should tell you that."

A hint of panic crept into my throat. "Wait. What do you mean by the end?"

"The end of everything. But to be honest, I don't really know what it is." His expression briefly turned to one of curiosity, before returning to a smile. "I also see that you've awakened to your power. A power that takes many forms, and yet is bound by none… will it prove to be your oblivion or salvation? Only time will tell."

The boy began to pace around my room. "Do you remember when we first met?"

"How could I forget? Everything started to go weird, and I signed that contract."

His smile widened. "Very good. Though things have been weird for much longer… but that can wait. I expect you to honour your commitment. I'll always be watching, even if you forget me, okay? Well, farewell." Before I could say anything, he seemed to fade into black mist before dissipating.

I sat there in silence.

Eh. I'd already accepted a voice in my head, a twenty-fifth hour of the day and how shooting myself caused bits of my mind to manifest. Compared to that, what was a mysterious boy who seemed to know about the end of the world and who could vanish at will?

_Don't be so quick to dismiss him. If the end is coming, then you certainly should not ignore him._

It was a rhetorical question, Lyra, but I see your point.

I closed my eyes and went back to sleep.

* * *

I decided to walk to school the next morning, which meant that Junpei caught up with me just as I reached the gates. "Sup, Minato. How are you holding up?"

I shrugged. "Been better, been worse. Of course, everyone's going to be staying miles away from me today, so ask me again at the end of the day."

Junpei gave a laugh. "Come on, if it's as bad as you think it's gonna be, I'll treat you to a bowl of ramen. And hey, I heard from Akihiko last night – after you went to sleep – that he found another Persona user, so someone else will be joining SEES."

That was new. "What did he tell you?"

Junpei began grinning like a madman. "Not much, not much, except that she's a girl! Come on, with three of us guys there already, you'd have to appreciate a few more members of the fairer sex. And hey, if she's cute, so much the better."

I stopped to think over what Junpei had just said. "You know what? I'll let you handle her. They shouldn't be greeted by someone they'll want to run away from – no, they should be greeted by someone they can tolerate for five minutes, then want to run away from."

Junpei lightly punched me. "Tsk. Suit yourself. All this means is that I get first choice, and you'll see the old Iori charm in action."

"Right. I'll be sure to take a video of your magnificent moment."

Then the bell rang, and we had to run to make it to class.

* * *

"Hey, did you hear about Minato?"

"The transfer student? I heard he went crazy and tried to burn down the shrine."

Yep, the rumours about me were flying thick and fast, and everyone gave me a wide berth.

To be honest, I didn't really care – I'd gotten used to shit like this at all my previous schools, and now as a member of SEES, I actually had some sense of social contact with the outside world, so I wouldn't be a complete pariah.

_Hey, the teacher just asked you a question._

Huh? I turned back to reality, and saw Mr. Ono, the eccentric history teacher (why did he feel the need to wear a samurai helmet?) stare at me expectantly.

"Well…"

_I'm going to have to bail you out again, aren't I? He asked you about the difference between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic Eras. The difference is…_

"Isn't the difference how the tools were made? I think Palaeolithic tools were chipped stone, and Neolithic tools were ground."

All the other students looked at me as if I was some kind of unholy icon, but Mr. Ono seemed impressed. "Well done, Arisato. Yes, the difference between the two eras…" he continued droning on.

_I'm surprised you remembered that from last time I told you._

Well, I need to try remember some of the answers in case you ever decide to stop giving them. I have an academic record to keep up.

Not long after, it was lunchtime. I sat by myself in the centre of the room, ignoring the whispers around me. I saw Junpei get whisked away by two boys, looking back at me as he went. I also saw Yukari attempt to approach me several times, each time wavering and going back to her clique, regret in her eyes.

_You and me. Just like old times, eh?_

Sure. Though that boy did say he was always with me. I could use another figment of my imagination to talk to.

_You know you're going insane when you start wanting more imaginary friends. Anyway, what's on your mind?_

Not much. Just reflecting on everything that's happened in the past few days.

_I told you it would be interesting._

You did also advise me to give up several times, though.

_Hey, as long as I have a voice, I can be a hypocrite, right?_

True. Are you going to do that again?

_Remember, I have your interests at heart. In times of great terror and uncertainty, to flee may be wisest option of all._

I'll keep that in mind.

Then the bell rang, and Lyra advised me to try pay attention to lessons for once.

* * *

The final bell rung, and I left without saying a word to anyone, ignoring more whispers.

I was just leaving the front gates when I heard the patter of footsteps behind me. "Wait up, Minato." Junpei.

I turned to look at him. "What do you want?"

He looked guilty. "I just wanted to say, sorry for not chilling with you today. The rumours were way worse than I thought, and no-one wanted to be near you…"

"It's not a big deal. Honestly, I'm used to it. I'll see you back at the dorm."

I prepared to leave, but Junpei clasped a hand to my shoulder. "Hold on. I promised you a bowl of ramen, didn't I?"

He seemed sincere, and a free meal was a free meal.

"Sure. Lead the way."

He took me to a place called Hagakure Ramen. It was crowded, but it didn't take us long to get served.

"I'll have a special, good sir," Junpei ordered.

"Could I have a spice bowl, but with six times the normal amount of chillies?"

Junpei stared at me in disbelief. "Dude… can you really take the heat?"

"I burn things, don't I?"

He laughed, before two steaming bowls of ramen materialised before us. Junpei picked up his chopsticks. "This place is sweet, isn't it? Quick service, nice atmosphere, good pricing, not to mention how the food is great. Well, dig in!"

He tore into his food, and I did the same. Mmm… burning…

"Dude, you okay? You look kinda uncomfortable."

I didn't respond, not only because the food was too good, but also because the spice had completely halted my powers of speech.

As I finished the last of my soup and wiped the sweat of my forehead, I finally managed to utter a few words.

"That… was… awesome."

At that, Junpei perked up again and returned to eating his food. I sat there in silence, waiting until I could speak more clearly.

By the time Junpei was done, I, with the aid of a glass of cold water, had finally recovered the ability to talk. "Thanks for bringing me here, Junpei. It does feel a lot better than moping by myself."

He gave a warm smile. "No problem. Good to see you back to yourself. Just remember I'm here for you, alright?"

I smirked and slouched back into my seat. "Look at you, being all supportive. Are you trying to become my surrogate dad?"

Junpei laughed again. "See, this is the Minato I know. Good to have you back. Don't cut yourself off, and you'll do fine for yourself, right?"

I smiled and nodded.

_**Crack.**_

Time stopped again. That meant…

_**Thou art I… and I am thou…**_

Yep. Icy mountains voice again, and a new Social Link.

Another card appeared in my mind. A floating pair of eyes, and a pair of hands conjuring a fireball. The Roman numeral for the number one written beneath.

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Magician Arcana…**_

Time started again, just as Junpei checked his watch. His eyes opened in surprise. "Crap, it's that late already? We need to get back to the dorm to greet our new guest!"

"Sure. I need to get the camera ready."

He gave another one of his wild grins. "Oh, that will make my victory all the sweeter."

We continued chatting and bantering on the way back to the dorm.

* * *

"Arisato, is the camera really necessary?"

In anticipation of the big moment, I'd unpacked my SLR camera and tripod (yes, I'd 'borrowed' it from one of my previous schools) and set it up to film the dorm's entrance. Junpei had taken a quick shower, and was rearing to go.

Akihiko had gone to the girls' dorms to pick up the new recruit, to aid her with her luggage (even with his broken arm). That left Mitsuru in the dorm to make sure me and Junpei (mostly Junpei) stayed in line.

I nodded to Mitsuru. "We definitely need to record Junpei's great failure on video. How else will future generations know how not to pick up women?"

Mitsuru frowned, and was about to respond when the handle of the door began turning open.

Junpei adjusted his cap and turned on his warmest non-creepy grin.

Mitsuru straightened her shirt and stood to look more authoritative.

I started recording.

As expected, Akihiko came through the door first, somehow carrying two large suitcases in his one good hand. "There's someone I'd like to introduce," he called to us. He stepped out of the way to let the newcomer through.

None of us had been expecting her.

Junpei's expression turned from that smile of his, through recognition, into several shades of confusion, before ending up somewhere between fear and disbelief. "Yu… Yukari-san?"

The cardiganed brunette looked similarly confused. "Stupei? This is the dorm I'm staying in? You've got to be kidding me!"

For a few moments, everyone held an awkward silence.

I internalised a sigh and stepped forward. "Hey, Yukari-san. Welcome to SEES. Make yourself at home."

She blushed slightly. "Hey, Minato-san. I'd forgotten you were in this dorm as well. Umm…" Her voice trailed off.

"Still not sure how to approach me in conversation?"

She seemed taken aback, but her eyes told me all I needed to know.

"I'm pretty sure that sometime soon, you'll be given a report about my mental status. Until then, you should know that this past week while I was absent, I didn't go crazy or anything. I was just hospitalised with extreme exhaustion."

She nodded, accepting my explanation.

"Ahem." Akihiko cleared his throat. "I found her by the Strip Mall, panicking like crazy. After I helped her calm down, I told her about us, and she agreed to help."

That seemed to snap Yukari back to attention. "Yeah… it was kinda scary, having all that information piled up at once. But, I'm ready to do what it takes!"

Junpei slid next to her. "And I'll be right by your side…" Joyous. Junpei hadn't decided to bail on his plan.

Not unexpectedly, Yukari slapped him in the face, and he limped off, damage mostly limited to his pride.

"Enough with the introductions." Mitsuru took command. "First, some affairs with our new members. Takeba, this is for you." She pulled a briefcase from under the sofa, like the one I'd seen last night. "Inside is your Evoker and your SEES armband. Arisato's suggestion of a summary will be following shortly.

"Both you and Arisato will also be getting new phones, specially designed to work in the Dark Hour. Any specific designs you want?"

Yukari shrugged. "I don't really mind."

"I'd like an iPhone, please."

"Very well. Those will be arriving tomorrow, when you come back from school. The other issue is that with this amount of people, we can recommence explorations."

Junpei's eyes widened. "You mean go back to Tartarus?"

My interest was piqued. "What's Tartarus? Why are we exploring it?" I asked. Yukari was similarly curious.

Mitsuru simply gave a knowing smile. "You'll see what Tartarus is tomorrow, but suffice to say for now that we believe we can find the reason for the Dark Hour there. I'll give the details tomorrow night with the chairman, so be ready."

There wasn't anything else to say, so I turned off the camera and took it back to my room. While I had been hoping for footage of a more spectacular failure, that video of the slap to the face was good enough.


	6. Chapter 5

The next morning, I was walking to school when an out-of-breath Yukari caught up to me. "Hold on," she gasped. "I wanted to talk to you."

I slowed my pace to let her catch her breath. "What about?"

She seemed slightly apprehensive. "I… wanted to apologise for not making you feel more welcome."

I shrugged. "Hey, unlike most other people, you actually tried to welcome me. If anything, I should be thanking you."

She gave a slight brush. "Thanks, Minato-san. You're a nice guy… I still feel kinda bad, though, especially about yesterday. I shouldn't have let those new rumours about you get to me. Are you doing anything tomorrow?"

I shook my head. "I haven't planned anything yet."

Yukari perked up. "Do you want to catch a movie or something tomorrow? Let me make it up to you."

I grinned. "Sure. Is this a date?"

Her smile turned into a deep blush, and her expression became flustered. "What? No, I didn't mean it like that… you're just as bad as Junpei." She then slapped me in the face and rushed off in a huff.

_Real smooth there, Minato._

* * *

School that day was unremarkable, except that Yukari came to me at lunch, to apologise for slapping me and to tell me that her offer still stood (it was most definitely not a date). Inevitably that caused a new wave of rumours: I was psycho who had caught the eye of the most popular girl in the year, and whom no one knew whether to befriend or avoid. I was really making a name for myself.

That evening, we all gathered in the meeting room to listen to the chairman talk about 'Tartarus'.

"I'd like your undivided attention," he began. "For some time, we only had three Persona users on hand, but that number has recently jumped to five. Therefore, at midnight tonight, I'd like us to explore Tartarus."

I interrupted. "I know I asked this yesterday, but what is this 'Tartarus'?"

Junpei gave a nervous laugh. "Heh… I'm not surprised you don't know. It only appears during the Dark Hour…" Evidently Tartarus had the capacity to terrify him.

"What do you mean, it only appears in the Dark Hour?" Yukari seemed to have picked up on Junpei's nervousness, and she seemed to be shaking now as well.

Mitsuru stepped in to calm everyone. "At this point, the easiest way to answer your questions will be to show you. Think of it as a nest for the Shadows. As long as we're dealing with Shadows, Tartarus isn't something we can avoid. Do any of you have immediate concerns?"

I shook my head, and no-one raised any issues. Mitsuru smiled and nodded. "We'll set off shortly. Before we do, Arisato, Takeba, here are your new phones." She handed me a black iPhone, while Yukari received a white one.

"Thank you, Mitsuru-sempai." I added my thanks to Yukari's.

"Both of you will also need this." She handed both of us a small earpiece. "This is to stay in communications in Tartarus. I will be staying back to feed you information. As Akihiko is injured, he will be staying with me by the entrance. Iori will be going with you as backup, but the main purpose today will be getting the two of you accustomed to Tartarus and your Personas. We won't ask you to be going far in."

I nodded. I still didn't know what Tartarus was, but at least I understood what I'd be doing now.

Yukari, though, looked puzzled. "Hold on. What about you, Mr. Chairman?"

Ikutsuki looked down, as if dejected. "I'll have to stay here. I don't have the same power as you."

An awkward silence filled the room, before Mitsuru cleared her throat. "We should be going now. To maximise exploration time, we should arrive just before the Dark Hour begins."

* * *

I have to say, I was surprised at where Mitsuru led us to.

"This is our school." Yukari was similarly disbelieving.

Mitsuru gave a knowing smile. "It's a few seconds to midnight. Hold on."

Everything turned green, as expected.

A dark, abrasive grating sound began echoing from underneath our feet. Okay, that didn't seem natural.

With a sharp judder, the school suddenly jerked upwards. That definitely was not natural.

Slowly it began its rise, spires occasionally breaking or twisting off at impossible angles. Onwards and onwards did it continue to climb, until it scraped the murky green haze of the sky above, blocking out the light of the crescent moon.

The abnormal colours and textures, the colossal scale that no human hands could create, the sense how none of it could fit in any system of geometry… all of it reminded me of Lovecraft's description of sunken R'lyeh. Like how Cthulhu waited in that drowned city, I could only shudder at what horrors waited within this tower.

Yukari's voice was filled with awe and terror. "This… our school became Tartarus?"

Mitsuru nodded, already accustomed to the sight. "Indeed. After the Dark Hour, everything returns to normal, but yes, this is Tartarus, the labyrinth that only appears in the Dark Hour.

"But… but why did it turn into this?"

Mitsuru was silent. I spoke up. "I doubt anyone knows. Is that why we're looking for answers here?"

Akihiko replied, smile on his face. "Yeah. You can feel there's some sort of clue in here. Exciting, isn't it?"

Mitsuru cleared her throat to regain control. "Remember, Akihiko, given your injury, you will stay at the entrance with me."

That deflated him. "I know… you didn't have to remind me."

We entered the tower to find a large hallway. A flight of stairs leading to a giant clock with an archway cut in was the focus of the room. Next to the stairway was another, much smaller clock, along with some sort of green machine. The walls and ceiling were all twisted like the tower itself, though the floor was level. In the corner of the room, I noticed an oddly familiar blue door.

"It's just like outside…" Yukari's mood hadn't changed. "It sure is creepy…"

"This is only the entrance. The labyrinth lies beyond the doorway at the top of the stairs," Mitsuru calmly told us. "As I said, you, Arisato and Iori will be going in to get a feel of the place. I'll feed you information from here. I'll also appoint a leader to make any necessary decisions." She looked over us several times. "Arisato, you're the leader."

Wait, what? "Why am I the leader? I don't have any experience in fighting these Shadows – on the roof, I just pulled a trigger and blind luck did the rest! And…"

I would have continued rambling, but Akihiko cut me off. "Junpei has showed us before that he's the most incompetent leader possible." The boy in question attempted to hide within his jacket. Akihiko ignored him and continued, "Minato, you have one special quality: you've summoned your Persona before, while Yukari hasn't."

He paused for dramatic effect. "These are Shadows we're talking about here. Without your Persona, you're screwed. Since Minato's summoned his Persona before, he's less likely to panic, so that's why we appointed him leader."

Okay. Their logic was sound enough, though I still did feel that Junpei should have been leading… and why was that door so familiar?

"So, when you're ready, go through the doorway… Arisato, are you alright?" They couldn't see it. Figures.

"Give me a moment." I stepped towards the door to get a better look at it. As I got closer, I felt a sense of heaviness from within one of my pockets. Its source was a blue, triangular key which I had certainly not taken with me.

This door leads to the Velvet Room, doesn't it?

_Right on._

Huh. Lyra had been unusually quiet; she tended to talk a lot around these really weird things.

Well, I should probably see Igor again and try extract some answers from him. Sighing, I jammed the key into the keyhole and opened the door.

Yep. It was this place again. Igor was sitting there, and Elizabeth was standing quietly in the corner, as usual.

At my entrance, Igor gave his characteristic wild and creepy grin. "I've been waiting for you. The time has come for you to wield your power. Why did this tower come to be? For what purpose does it exist? Regrettably, you are not yet able to answer these questions. That is why you must be made aware of the nature of your power."

"Right. About that…"

Igor raised a hand to silence me. "Let me explain first, then I will deal with the issues you ask. Your power is that of the wild card: by itself it may be empty, but it yet holds infinite possibilities. Perhaps more than I could have ever predicted."

I leant closer to him. "Yeah, you mentioned my power was 'wilder than expected'. What did you mean by that?"

Igor gave a dismissive laugh. "I believe it is best for you to experience it for yourself when you venture into the tower. When you return, I will explain. Suffice to say for now, you have the power to acquire and use multiple Personas, and summon them as needed."

Wow. That seemed pretty cool. Igor continued.

"When you have defeated your enemies, you may see the faces of possibility before you. There may be times when they are difficult to grasp, but you should not fear. Seize what you have earned, and your power will grow accordingly. Be sure to keep that in mind."

"Don't worry. I will."

Igor smiled again; not a crazy one, but a genuinely warm one for once. "My spare time will soon become scarce. But please come again of your own accord. Then, not only will I answer the issue of your wildness, but I will also tell you of my true role… the manner in which I can best assist you. Until then, farewell."

I sat there for a few seconds, expecting to be sucked out by some mysterious force again, before I realised I could walk out the door I came in.

When I returned to the real world, Junpei and the others were standing behind me, looking concerned. "Dude, are you alright? You looked like a zombie for a moment there…"

_You should probably tell them about that._

What, an imaginary room? They'll think I've really gone crazy.

_Not all of it. Just that you can use multiple Personas. This way, they won't be shocked when you summon something unexpected while exploring._

Fair point. "I'm fine. Lyra just told me that I can use multiple Personas. Don't ask me why she knows, because I don't know myself." Having a mysterious, sage voice inside my head was useful sometimes.

_Right. This small lie seems simple enough. Just be careful not to convolute yourself too much._

Everyone's reaction was different. Junpei was confused, Yukari looked sceptical, Akihiko seemed impressed, while Mitsuru was merely curious. She was the first to speak. "Interesting… while we have no previous evidence to support such a thing being possible, this could be a great help against the Shadows, if it was true."

I shrugged. "I don't know yet, either. Let's go into Tartarus and see."

Akihiko smiled. "I like your attitude." He then handed us some weapons – Junpei got a two handed katana he seemed accustomed to, Yukari received a shortbow for being on the archery team, and I was given the shortsword I'd been given the other day – before letting us set off into Tartarus.

* * *

"Whoa."

The first floor of Tartarus was the same sickly green as the outside. The ceiling was green, the lighting was green, the floor was chequered with green and black. Every now and then, a pool of blood dotted the floor. Yukari seemed somewhat oppressed by the atmosphere, while Junpei looked like he'd seen this all before.

"Can you all hear me?" Mitsuru's voice rang into my ear. "My Persona has this ability. I'd join you, but the structure of Tartarus changes every day, so outside support is imperative. Give a sign if you can hear me."

"I've got you."

"I can hear you, sempai."

"Iori, calling in."

"Good. Before you go any further, you should all summon your Personas, to acclimatise to them. Junpei, as the most experienced, you go first."

"Sure." He pulled out his Evoker and pressed it to his head. "Hermes!" With a bang, and majestic blue figure rose behind him. He wore a golden visored helmet, and golden wings connected his wrists and ankles. It was a vibrant image of the Greek god. The figure soon faded.

"Arisato, you're next." I pulled out my Evoker and pressed it to my head.

Huh. I was shooting myself again. This really didn't feel great for my mental health.

Eh. I'd done it before.

"Pied Piper!" The familiar man in black and white with his pipe appeared before me. Yukari stared in wonder, before he too vanished.

"Alright, Takeba. You haven't done it before, so feel free to take your time."

"Okay…" She took out her Evoker and stared at it for several seconds, always trembling. Finally she pressed it to her head. "I can do this… I can do this… I can do this…"

She stood there panting for several seconds, trying to prepare herself to pull the trigger. "I just… pull the trigger… no chickening out…"

"Takeba…"

At Mitsuru's voice, Yukari collapsed, trying to stifle tears in her cardigan; I quickly ran to support her. "I… I can't do it…" she whimpered.

I gently stroked her hair (it felt like the right thing to do). "Don't worry. It's the most difficult the first time. Just ask yourself, what do you have to lose? It's not a real gun. It's not going to harm you."

"But… but… but…"

"Here." I handed her my Evoker. "You saw this didn't harm me. It won't harm you either. And remember, we're all looking out for you."

She sniffled. "Th… thanks, Minato. I'll try again." She got up and pressed my Evoker to her forehead. Again she tried to prepare herself to pull the trigger. "I can do this…"

This time, I gently put my hand on her shoulder. "I've got your back."

She smiled. "Okay… Persona!"

She pulled the trigger, and the shape of a cow's head appeared above her. There was a blonde woman chained within it. Wasn't this another Greek myth? Something about Zeus turning one of his lovers into a cow?

The figure completed the thought for me. **"I am Io… you have freed me… I will aid you on your journey…" **it spoke, before fading away.

"Io…" Yukari said, momentarily dazed by what she'd just done. She then turned to me. "Thanks, Minato-san. I don't think I could have done that without you."

I smiled, and was about to respond when Junpei interrupted. "The queen of 2-F and the new transfer student? Is this the blossoming of a new romance?"

After Yukari had slapped Junpei in the face again, we began moving deeper into the labyrinth. "These will be real battles you'll be fighting," Mitsuru reminded us. "Now, let's see if you can deal with all the Shadows on this floor."

"Um, sempai…" Yukari asked. "How does this fighting actually work?"

"Very well. Naturally, you can attack with your weapons. These will do various types of physical damage, depending on the weapon. However, you can also use your Persona's skills. These have various affinities: fire, ice, wind, lightning, light and darkness, as well as the same physical affinities. Different Shadows are more sensitive to different types of damage, so be sure to mix up techniques to exploit weaknesses."

"Alright…" I then noticed a Shadow ahead of us.

"I've spotted a Shadow. How should we engage?"

"Simply put, run up behind it and stab it. Be careful, though, as it will likely split into multiple smaller Shadows when you attack it. Also, you'll be at a disadvantage if the enemy gets the first hit in, so try to surprise your opponents and strike first."

I didn't need to be told twice. I ran up behind the Shadow and plunged by sword into its back. It exploded.

I was now surrounded by three small Shadows, each an amorphous blob with a small mask. I vaguely recognised them; each looked like the pile of ichor that had crawled out of the remains of the large Shadow on the roof.

"These are called Cowardly Mayas," Mitsuru explained. "They're weak to fire."

Fire, eh?

_Letting the old pyromaniac out, are you?_

I dodged the first Maya's clumsy lunge, leaving it sprawled on the floor. Dropping my sword, I pulled a can of deodorant from one of my pockets and a lighter from another, both packed for this very purpose.

"Stand back," I called to Junpei and Yukari.

Two seconds later, I had a working flamethrower.

The Shadows didn't last very long after that.

_Isn't catharsis satisfying?_

I had forgotten how good setting something on fire felt…

"Well, I suppose that is another method for dealing with Shadows," Mitsuru mumbled. "However, I would like to remind you that the purpose of this foray is to let you gain experience with your Persona. As such, I would recommend not using your new weapon until necessary."

Fine. I put my flamethrower away and picked my sword up again.

The next group of Shadows was around the corner. I rushed them in the same way as the last group. Three more Mayas appeared around me.

"Yukari, summon Io and see what she can do! Junpei, take out one of these so I'm not surrounded!" I pressed my Evoker to my head. "Pied Piper! Do something!"

The Pied Piper appeared above me, played a little ditty on his flute, then disappeared again. What?

One of the Mayas clawed at my leg. It was a shallow cut, but it still stung.

Another one lunged at me, and I jumped out the way, landing on my freshly injured leg. Ow. Ow. Ow.

"Hermes, Agi!" Junpei shouted from behind me. One of the Mayas became doused in fire and withered away. That fire skill would be useful for fighting them.

"Io… help him…" Yukari's voice was a worried whisper. Immediately a blast of wind staggered a second Maya, before an odd blue glow surrounded my leg. The sensation that followed was unnerving, but not painful. When the light faded, the wound on my leg had closed up.

"Cheers, guys!" I shouted back to them. "Pied Piper, could you do something helpful this time?"

He played another tune on his flute before vanishing again.

Screw this. I stabbed the nearest Shadow until it collapsed, pirouetting out of the last Shadow's way. "Yukari, you deal with the last one."

"Okay… I can do this." She was obviously still finding it difficult to pull the trigger on her Evoker, but she steadied herself and summoned Io again. Another blast of wind staggered the Shadow, and a hail of arrows finished it off.

_Look, Minato. Something's happening._

I quickly glanced around to see three cards spinning about my head. Okay, what was happening now?

_Grab one of the cards and see._

Fair enough. I reached out and crushed one of the cards in my hand.

"Dude, why did you just grasp at thin air?"

Rather than answer Junpei's question, I opened my hand. I did not expect to see several silver coins gleaming in my palm.

"Junpei, Yukari, don't ask me why, but apparently I can break the laws of physics as well." I showed them the coins (all real money) and briefly explained what I'd just experienced.

Igor mentioned something like this, didn't he? 'When you have defeated your enemies, you may see the faces of possibility before you.' Or something like that. This was probably what he meant.

"This is most interesting," Mitsuru spoke over the comm. "Evidently, we underestimated you potential, Arisato."

"Yes, sempai, but that doesn't really explain why he saw those cards or anything." Yukari was understandably confused, like I was.

I decided to say something. "Lyra just said that those cards were linked to me supposedly being able to use multiple Personas. How, I don't know yet."

"That is a fair explanation…" Mitsuru commented. "You should try catch more of these cards, to see what happens."

"Alright." We started walking again.

I had a brief chat to Yukari. "So, what can Io do?"

"Hm? Oh, I think she can use wind skills and heal injuries. Though, I don't know why they're called 'Garu' and 'Dia'. Skill names are weird…"

"Well, at least your Persona seems to be able to do things."

"If I may interrupt," Mitsuru cut in, "I believe you should continue trying to see what Pied Piper can do. It may be that its powers are not yet unlocked."

Alright. I'd caught sight of the next Shadow, so I decided to give my Persona another try. This one only split into two smaller Shadows when I stabbed it.

I put my Evoker to my head again. "Alright, Pied Piper. This time, don't play music, or twiddle your thumbs, or waste my time. This time, do something offensive, to hurt these things."

When I pulled the trigger, Pied Piper seemed somewhat annoyed and frowned at me. He then put his flute to his lips and blew gently.

A small ball of light descended from nowhere, nestling between the two Shadows.

It burst in a giant explosion.

Everything turned white.

What just happened?

I was sent flying through the air and landed roughly on my tailbone, before clacking my head onto the floor.

Really, what just happened?

Still half-dazed, I staggered to my feet just as my vision returned. "Is everyone alright?"

"I'm fine, dude."

"I'm also fine. Just a bit dizzy."

"…sato." The comm was still filled with static, but Mitsuru's voice was clear. "What did you do?"

"I don't know. It just happened!" Igor really needed to give me some answers.

When everything became clear again, I saw three more cards floating around my head. I crushed one, expecting more money to come out.

Instead, I felt something warm seep into my arm, and something seemed to worm its way into my brain.

_You just got a new Persona. Apsaras, of the Priestess Arcana._

Thanks, Lyra. I'm curious, though. The term Arcana seems to be coming up a lot. Can you explain that to me?

_The Arcana refer to the twenty-two cards of a standard tarot deck. The Fool, the Magician and the High Priestess are three of those cards._

Cheers.

"Arisato, I'm guessing another card appeared before you. What did you get?"

"I'm not sure, but I think I got another Persona."

Mitsuru's voice almost quivered with excitement. "Remarkable… I would recommend testing this against more Shadows."

"Will do." That response seemed to worry Yukari slightly, but she made no comment.

As we searched for more Shadows, we passed a flight of stairs ("Staircases are the only way to proceed to the next floor," Mitsuru had said. "I can't allow you to go any further today, but please remember for next time.") and a strange yellowy-green circular tile embedded into the floor ("That's an access point. It lets you return from where you are to the ground floor.").

As we rounded the next corner, I saw another Shadow. "Junpei, Yukari, you two hold back. I don't know what could happen here, so I need you two to avoid injury."

They both nodded, and I rushed at the Shadow. Again it burst into three Shadows.

Alright, let's see what this new Persona can do.

"Apsaras!" With the pull of my trigger, a figure appeared.

I took a brief moment to admire it. A pale-skinned young woman in a white dancing leotard, she had blue hair and wore a blue belt, seemingly made out of raindrops.

Suddenly she exploded.

A thousand things seemed to happen at once. A deep drilling pain seemed to rush out from the centre of my mind, something which I imagine a lobotomy would feel like. A cold blast of wind brushed by me, followed by small chunks of snow and ice that dug their way into my skin. And then I realised I was careening through the air, and I crashed into a wall, and I bounced off, and crashed into another wall, and bounced off again, then slid along the floor on my face for a few metres.

What just happened?

"Arisato, what just happened?"

I had no idea. "Erm… I think my new Persona just exploded."

"I could tell that. Any idea why?"

"Erm… no."

I looked to where Yukari and Junpei now were, and I was amazed to see that I'd been thrown a good twenty metres by that blast. The Shadows I had been fighting seemed to have been obliterated.

Junpei came running over to me. "Dude, are you alright?"

I forced myself to my feet, and immediately regretted it. My entire head felt like someone had violated it with an electric whisk. One of my cheeks felt like it had been sandpapered off, and my body was bleeding from multiple small cuts from the ice.

Before I could say anything, though, a shrill scream pierced the air.

Yukari. Alone, a new group of Shadows had pounced on her. She was now cut off and panicking.

Ignoring the pain in my own body, I started trying to run towards her. Every step caused the pain to spark up again, but I had to help.

She frantically dodged a swipe and pressed her Evoker to her forehead. Yes. Io could defend her, then me and Junpei would deal with the rest.

She was about the pull the trigger.

She froze completely.

No. Don't stop. Just pull the trigger. You need your Persona…

The Shadows seemed to sense her fear, and one of them clawed her arm. Yelping, she fell to the floor, dropping her Evoker, which was quickly swept away.

Shit. Her bow would be useless, and without her Persona, all she had was a handful of arrows.

What had Akihiko said?

_Without your Persona, you're screwed._

I tried to run faster, but my body forbade it. I wouldn't make it in time.

Pied Piper would either do nothing or blow Yukari up as well. He wasn't an option.

Junpei had only just realised what was happening. He wouldn't make it in time.

Shit.

_Listen to me, Minato…_

Lyra. You've always been there. You have to do something!

_I can, Minato. You have to let me take control, though._

Take… control?

_I'm not one of your Personas. However, if you summon me like one of them, then I can take control of your body briefly. Only then can I help you._

Wait, how does that work?

_There's no time to explain!_

Okay. I have to save her.

"Lyra!"

Time seemed to slow, as I slowly became aware of what being wrenched from my own body felt like. It wasn't painful or anything, but there was a distinct wrongness about it that words couldn't really describe.

Dimly I realised I was losing my senses, but I was still aware of everything happening in my body. The facts seemed to be beamed directly into my conscious. That sensation, of not feeling and yet feeling, was even more unnerving.

All of a sudden, I knew there was something beneath my chest. I knew it was writhing, twisting inside of me, and all it gave out was an intense sense of wrongness.

For a split second, everything was still.

Then from my chest burst out a dark amorphous shapelessness, leaving blood and bone and lung in its wake. It rushed towards the Shadows at an impossible speed and latched onto the nearest one.

The Shadow gave an unearthly wail and withered into nothingness.

The shapeless thing turned into a conical wedge and pierced into the second Shadow. Spikes spouted out of the cone, and it began to rotate.

The hapless Shadow was torn apart from the inside.

The last Shadow tried to flee, but the shapelessness caught up with it easily. It turned into what looked like a paper shredder.

The Shadow's dying screams echoed through the halls of Tartarus.

The amorphousness finally seemed satisfied with its work and came back to me. It entered my chest through the hole it had made. As it settled back down, the hole closed up, leaving not a trace of a scar.

And like that, I was in control of my own body again.

Lyra… what did you do?

"Arisato, I can accept not knowing what happened in the earlier situations, but you need to tell me _right now_ what just happened."

Lyra… can you hear me?

"Arisato, I need you to concentrate!"

I looked up and saw Junpei and Yukari. Earlier, they had seemed doubtful, or confused, or sceptical at my odd abilities.

Right here, right now, the only expression on their faces was horror.

Lyra… who are you?

I tried to open my mouth to speak, but nothing came out.

I did the only sensible thing I could think of.

I passed out.


	7. Chapter 6

When I regained consciousness, everything was black.

_So you've finally come about again._

That voice…

_I'm glad you recognise me. Naturally, you have questions, so fire away._

Right… what are you?

_Your guide._

Eh?

_Your power was always destined to be great, but it would be difficult to control, as you observed earlier. Therefore, I have always been with you from the beginning, to help you actualise your power._

That doesn't explain what you did.

_I have my own power as well. I was merely exercising it, as you asked me to._

But… what are you?

_I already said I was your guide._

No, I mean… where did your powers come from?

_I was made with them, like you were with yours._

I don't understand…

_Don't worry. You don't need to. All you need to know is that I am here to help you._

But, you almost killed me! You exploded my chest!

_You were never in danger of death. I would have prevented it. Besides, it was necessary._

Bullshit.

_It was necessary for you to understand the consequences of your actions._

…What do you mean?

_Life is full of strife and pain and uncertainty. Often men are left feeling helpless, leaving them to seek higher powers in desperation. You yourself did this just earlier. But such rash decisions can always lead to unintended consequences. The seeker may suffer, or the ones who the seeker sought to protect. The best intentions can lead to catastrophe. I merely intended for you to learn this._

…You almost killed me and scared the shit out of everyone to teach me that lesson?

_Indeed. As Igor said, your power is unique beyond all others. There will be things that only you can do. The world would suffer if such power were to be applied incorrectly._

How is bursting out of my chest supposed to prevent me from dying?

_You are focusing too much on reality. Your emotions are flying too wild. You must calm down, and hear me out._

Screw that. I don't need you. You're just a voice. I can ignore you all I want.

_Minato…_

Lalalala…

_Listen to me, Minato…_

Lalalala I can't hear you…

_MINATO ARISATO. STOP BEING AN IMMATURE BRAT AND LISTEN TO ME. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT._

I froze completely.

_Good. Now, you did something – use my power – and it had unpredicted consequences – you scared the shit of yourself. Are you going to let this bad experience cloud all your future judgements?_

Well…

_Shut up and listen. As is, there will be some things you will now be unwilling to do, even though you'll have to do them. You have to man up, get past this and do those things._

But…

_Shut up and think._

…

_Well?_

I suppose that could potentially…

_Stop stalling and give me a straight answer._

Fine. As much as I hate to admit it, you're right. Stuff happens, and we need to keep moving on.

_Good. At least you're not a complete cretin. That's the first thing you need to know._

Only the first?

_Yes. Now, listen up._

…Alright. I steadied my nerves, and forced myself to relax.

_It's not only about you. You need to remember what happens to everyone else as well._

...What do you mean?

_Suppose, for instance, that I had killed you. Would you have accepted death as the cost for saving someone you hardly know?_

I… yes?

_Perhaps. But could everyone else have?_

…Maybe?

_Suppose you were in, say, Junpei's position. The two of you have only just met, and yet you've become closer to him than anyone else in your life. Doubtless he already feels similarly about you. Suppose he had seen me tear you limb from limb. Suppose he had to scrape up the tattered shreds of your corpse from the floor. Do you think he would have been able to accept that so easily?_

I…

_What about Mitsuru? Sure, she's pragmatic, but now she has this new teammate with all this raw power which could be so useful against the nasty Shadows – what would she do if she lost him straight away? What about Akihiko? You don't know him, but he's a fighter who probably wants to protect everyone – what would he do if he felt he should have saved you? What about the chairman? Think of how many strings he had to pull for you to be here. What would he do now all his efforts were in vain?_

I… I…

_What about Yukari? Oh, how the heroic leader with his amazing abilities died to save her, who couldn't even use the power she was given – isn't survivor guilt such a fantastic thing? And what about everyone else? All those who wanted to talk to you or would have needed you, all the friends and allies you'd never have met… all those opportunities lost, all because of your death._

_If you had been aware of all these things, would you have still sought my aid?_

I… I… I…

_To accept the consequences of your actions isn't just what happens to you, Minato. Your actions will have repercussions on everyone else. You have to accept the weight of their burdens as well. Only then can you choose the right fate for yourself._

…

_A lot to think about, isn't it?_

Lyra…

_Of course, I'm not actually going to kill you. But you did almost kill yourself by accident. Your power, as it is now, is a much greater threat to your continued existence than I am._

Is that also why you're here, then? So I won't kill myself?

_Sort of. I should explain all this again from the top, to make it clearer._

Alright.

_I am here to help you make full use of your power. Your power can do many things, but those things will have consequences. If you cannot accept those consequences, you will not be able to make full use of your power, which you will need to in the trials to come. That is my main goal: to help you understand consequence, which will allow you to have truly free will. _

But…

_Despair will lead you to do many things. In those moments, I will always be at hand, to lend you a higher power. And every time you seek my aid in those moments, you will walk away with fear and unholy terror instilled into your being. I will flay the skin from your flesh and the flesh from your bones to aid you, and I will not cease until you truly understand what it means to accept the consequences of your actions. You have to learn this now, so you can choose the right fate for yourself in the very end._

…

_That is my main goal. As you suggested, I am also here to help develop your power. But that can wait for a while longer. Igor needs to explain some things to you first._

I… see.

_Now you understand why I'm here, how do you feel?_

I… don't think I fully understand…

_Don't worry. It will become more obvious over time._

Right… I also can't say I'm happy about your presence, and especially about your methods. But I understand why you're here, and I appreciate the help.

_I'm glad we have an understanding. Any last questions?_

Two things. First, where are we?

_You're still unconscious in the real world, so we're having this conversation in your brainspace. That's why you're not breathing._

I paused to check. Yep, I definitely wasn't breathing.

Second thing. How did you get control of my body?

_There are things which man was never meant to know._

I would have facepalmed if I wasn't a disembodied bundle of thoughts. Fine, Lyra. I'll deal with not having that explanation for now.

_I'm glad you understand. We're good, right?_

I guess so. Things won't be the same, but we're good.

_Cool. You need to be getting back to the real world now. See you back in reality._

Like that, I felt myself falling, and the endless blackness seemed to consume me.

* * *

"Urgh…"

My mind was slowly getting clearer. It felt like I'd been asleep for months.

I felt a sense of déja vu. This was exactly like when I'd woken up in hospital a few days back, wasn't it?

With effort, I unscrewed my eyes. Everything was white. Hospital. Yep, just like last time. It even looked like the same ward.

"You're awake!" Huh. A girl. So Junpei wasn't here this time. I turned to see Yukari, looking both relieved and concerned. "Um, how do you feel…?"

I let out a yawn. "Alright, given my chest exploded."

Yukari frowned. "You shouldn't joke about that. I mean, I did see what happened after you… you know. Do you really think you can trust her? She did almost kill you, and none of us know who or what she is…"

_I'm right here, you know._

I flinched at the voice, but I resisted the urge to hide beneath the covers.

I steadied my breathing. "It's alright. We… talked things over, while I was unconscious. I still don't really know what she is, but I think she wants to help in her own, twisted way."

Yukari blinked in shock. "Really? You're trusting her? But, but… what if next time, she just straight out kills you?"

"I'll just have to deal with it. Besides, didn't she save your life?"

"Well, but… but… that's not the point!" Yukari flustered. "The point is that you shouldn't be putting yourself in unnecessary danger! You can't die…" Her voice trailed off.

"Don't worry about me. Everything's going to be fine."

"Sorry… I don't know… not usually this emotional… sorry…" There was pain in her voice.

I sat up and gave her a hug.

She collapsed and started weeping into my shoulder.

_You know, this would be the perfect time to make your move._

Shut up, Lyra.

_Just saying. She obviously cares for you, and she's emotionally vulnerable. Go get her._

No. Just… no. I am not going to take advantage of her, and I am certainly not going to be listening to… whatever you are, for romantic advice.

_Fine._

"Thanks, Minato." Yukari had stopped crying, and was wiping the last of her tears from her eyes. I let her go. "Just… make sure to be careful, alright?"

"Don't worry. I will. By the way, did Mitsuru give you the file? You did give her a gender."

Yukari sniffled. "Yeah… she gave it to me last night… oh, you've been out for two days. Like last time, the doctors couldn't find anything wrong with you. This time, we just told the school you were sick. I think they believed it.

"Anyway, where was I? Oh, your records." She gave a small chuckle. "Forty million yen?"

I shrugged. "I listened to Lyra a lot. There was no-one else to talk to. Now I actually have friends, I don't think I'll be burning as much stuff."

_Hey, I resent that._

Yukari briefly smiled, but then her face fell again. "By the way, I saw what happened to your parents. I… I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You didn't do anything wrong."

She smiled again, and this one stayed. "Thanks, Minato. I, uh… I wanted to tell you that… I'm sort of like you."

I tilted my head. "What do you mean?"

"My dad died in an accident when I was little, and I'm not exactly on good terms with my mom… you're all alone too, right?"

I paused. "At school, you always seemed so happy…"

Her face fell. "Maybe… but I always felt that none of my 'friends' knew the truth about me… I don't know why, but I feel I can tell you this."

I smiled, to cheer her up. "Don't worry. You're not alone. I'm here for you, if you need me. I'll listen."

Her smile reappeared and her mood perked up. "Thanks… it was ten years ago." That was an odd coincidence – her dad dying at about the same time and in about the same place as my parents – but I made no comment. "There was a big explosion in the area. Supposedly, my dad died in the blast, but no-one really knows what happened. They say he was working in a lab run by the Kirijo Group…"

"Wait," I interrupted. "Kirijo Group? As in, Mitsuru Kirijo?"

Yukari seemed surprised. "You didn't know? Mitsuru's family owns one of the biggest corporations in the world. They say it's impossible to find anyone who hasn't heard of them. Except, I just found one…"

I shrugged. "So you think they might have had role in your dad's death?"

"Exactly. Honestly, when Akihiko told me that Mitsuru was involved, that was why I joined. I'm hoping that if I stick around long enough, I'll find out something. Don't tell Mitsuru or anyone, alright?"

"Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me."

"Thanks. It's good to have someone to rely on. I've been wanting to share that story with someone for a long time." She paused, and her face fell, and she stared at the floor. "I'm sorry I wasn't much help in Tartarus… if I hadn't been such a coward, none of that stuff with her would have had to happen…"

I took her hand. "It wasn't your fault."

_It totally was._

I ignored Lyra and continued. "Next time, you'll be able to do it. I'm sure of it."

She looked into my eyes. "Thanks, Minato… I really get the feeling you're looking out for me. And, I feel you understand my problems as well… at least, that's what I think. Could it just be wishful thinking…?"

Was that a blush forming on her cheeks?

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou art I… and I am thou…**_

A man and a woman standing under a tree-turned-giant-heart, with _VI_ underneath.

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Lovers Arcana…**_

_Lovers. Minato, you sly dog._

I really needed to look up these Arcana.

"Um…" Yukari suddenly bolted upright, pulling her hand from mine. "Alright… I'm going to get going. I'll… tell the others you're up. Take it easy, okay? Be a good patient! And… call the nurse. She'll take good care of you. I'm sure. Okay, bye!" She sped off, door slamming behind her.

_She's only known you what, five days? She's already completely into you. You have so got this._

I ignored Lyra's comment and fell back down onto my hospital bed. In a few minutes, I dozed off again.

* * *

The doctors were concerned about how soon I returned to hospital after being discharged, and advised me to stay for another night so they could do more tests. I ignored them. Thus, after signing another pile of forms, I was walking out the hospital's front gates again.

It was still the afternoon, and I was feeling peckish, so I decided to look for that ramen restaurant. What was it called? Haga- something or other?

Thirty minutes later, I made a mental note to buy a map.

I eventually found myself in some sort of plaza. A bright, clear fountain stood in the centre, next to a large sign reading 'Paulownia Mall'. I remembered this place as where Yukari took me for that coffee. Yep, there was Café Chagall, next to what looked like a nightclub. Other shops and businesses lined the back of the mall; the front was bordered by two more large fountains. An oddly familiar blue glow seemed to emanate from an alley underneath a karaoke bar.

Wait. Was that blue glow…?

As I approached the alley, I felt a familiar heaviness in one of my pockets. That would mean… yep, there was that blue door again, right in the alley.

Why was there an entrance here as well?

Eh. It's not a real room. It doesn't have to obey reality.

Well, I needed to talk to Igor, so I pulled out the Velvet Key and opened the door.

"Ah, there you are. Welcome back," the long-nosed man greeted me. "I'd been meaning to speak to you."

I took my usual seat. "Yeah. Wildness. Please explain."

Of course, Igor gave a creepy grin. "Of course. Let me start from the beginning. Do you remember what I told you? That you are a wild card?"

I nodded, and he continued. "In essence, the wild card embodies unpredictability. Thus, your power being wilder than expected simply means that it is a little more… chaotic than it otherwise be. Hence, it is difficult to predict what your Personas may do, if they do not spontaneously decay." Igor's grin grew into something even less stable.

"Yes, your power is full of chaos. Your potential may be beyond that of all others, but if you try subjugate your power and bring it to law, only destruction will follow. To use to full extent of your powers, you must embrace the chaos and let it flow. Do you understand?"

I stared at him blankly before I realised he wanted me to speak again. "Not really."

Igor's smile grew again, so it seemed to consume his face. "Precisely. Do not seek understanding, but instead embrace the chaos. Then will your true power come about once and for all."

I still had no idea what Igor was telling me to do.

His expression suddenly turned serious. "I am afraid I have little other help to offer you. I believe you already have a special advisor at hand."

I sighed. That would be Lyra. If Igor was being this cryptic, I would have to listen to her, even if she wanted to rip my head off.

Igor gave a calm smile. "Under other circumstances, I would have been able to offer countless other services, and you always would have been welcome here. However, with your power, I believe that my abilities would not hold weight, and would prove insufficient to aid you. Instead, I will offer you two books. This is the first."

He handed me a bright yellow book with a large black stripe on it. I stared at it incredulously.

"Persona Fusion… for Dummies."

"Indeed. You are an observant one. My assistance would have been to fuse your Personas into new, more powerful ones. However, with the level of instability inherent within your power, I believe this task would have proved impossible for me. This book will allow you to undertake this vital service by yourself. As for the second…" He snapped his fingers, and the silent blonde in the corner suddenly jumped to attention.

She handed me a heavy grimoire, bound in blue leather.

"This is the Necronomicon," she began. Her voice was peculiar; it sort of reminded me of a cat or tiger, ready to pounce. "It is bound by the skin of those who failed to complete their contracts."

I blinked several times slowly, trying to comprehend what she had just said. "Erm… what?"

Igor rolled his eyes, and she giggled. "Do not worry. It was merely a jest. I can assure you, we will not be the ones interested in taking your skin."

That statement also wasn't the most comforting, but she continued. "In truth, this is the Persona Compendium. It provides a record of every Persona you use on your journey. Currently, almost all entries are unfilled, but you will be able to fill them over time. Ordinarily, I would have charged a fee for using this, but given how often you will be losing access to your Personas upon their explodings, I judged that too harsh. Hence, I give it to you for free." She smiled, in an only slightly unnerving manner.

I flicked through the new book. As she suggested, almost all the pages were blank. "Thanks, but how do I use this?"

Her eyes gave an odd flicker. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll find the user interface very intuitive."

I resisted the urge to brain myself with the new books. "Right. I'll assume the other one teaches me everything I need from the beginning. One thing, though. If all my Personas are going to keep exploding, how do I stop those explosions from not blowing me up?"

"I will let you find that out for yourself," Igor answered. I facepalmed.

"If I may have a suggestion," Elizabeth added, "Stay behind the yellow line, keep away from the edge of the platform and mind the oncoming train."

Again, I had no idea how to respond. Silence filled the room.

Igor cleared his throat. "Ahem. Now we have given you those two books, I am afraid we are out of time. I believe this may be the last time we ever meet. Now, then, I bid you…"

"Master, wait!" Elizabeth suddenly squeaked up. "I had some favours to ask of our new guest…"

Igor gave a resigned sigh. "Very well. You may bother him with your requests. I will leave the Velvet Room in your care." With that, he stood up and disappeared.

Elizabeth smiled and looked into my eyes. "Forgive him. He wished to keep that Compendium within the confines of this room. It is a powerful tool, and your power is dangerous enough without it.

"But anyways, it has been quite some time since I had a visitor worthy of my attention. If you don't mind, would you accept these requests of mine? Of course, I will make sure you are well compensated for your efforts."

She stared at me expectantly, almost like a sad puppy, and I found myself unable to say no. I meekly nodded.

"Wonderful! Here are the first nine." She flooded me with a stack of papers. "I anxiously await your cooperation."

Barely holding onto everything, I staggered out of the Velvet Room.

Lyra, can you please just explain what Igor just said?

_Basically, your power is similar to a sealed box with a bomb and a chocolate bar inside. Opening the box will detonate the bomb, killing you. You have to get the chocolate without dying._

Why is everything trying to kill me?

_Nothing's trying to kill you specifically. The Shadows want to kill everyone, your power will only kill you unintentionally, and I'm only going to inflict grievous bodily harm on you._

Part of me wanted to curl up and die.

_Cheer up. Remember what you'd always do when you felt this shit?_

Go burn stuff?

_Exactly. And do you remember where there's lots of stuff to burn?_

Tartarus.

_You got it! Catharsis is great!_

Maybe setting fire to something would help my mood.


	8. Chapter 7

After buying a map of the city, I began to make my way back to the dorm. News of my discharge from hospital had arrived before me, which was why everyone was there to check whether I was alright or not.

"I'm fine. I think we should go to Tartarus."

There was silence.

"Honestly, I'm not feeling great, and I just want to burn something."

As a result, come the Dark Hour, I was walking through Tartarus with my makeshift flamethrower, torching every Shadow I could see. It had taken some more effort, but I'd convinced everyone else to let me wander through a couple of floors alone: I wasn't in the mood for conversation with anyone, and the less friendly fire the better. Junpei and Yukari had seemed worried at my decision and at what caused my mood, but they seemed to understand that I needed some time to myself.

As another Cowardly Maya burnt to cinders, another set of cards appeared around my head. I smashed one at random. Huh. There was that up-arm-into-brain worming sensation. New Persona.

_Angel, of the Justice Arcana. If you wanted to know._

Right. All the other ones I found earlier on this trip exploded immediately on summoning. I'll assume this one's the same.

Mitsuru's voice crackled in over the comm. "Arisato, the stairs are just ahead. Make sure not to exhaust yourself."

"Got it." While I was beginning to feel sleepy, my body still felt fine (flamethrowers weren't anywhere near as tiring to use as swords). One more floor would be fine.

The next floor – the fifth, if I counted correctly – seemed different. I entered a large square hall, with one corridor leaving the back of the room. The main sense of the room was of regularity, rather than the chaotic mess the first four floors had been.

"Hold on," Mitsuru spoke up. "I'm detecting some unusual readings. There seem to be three Shadows in the middle of the floor, blocking the way forward. You'll have to defeat them to progress."

"Wait. There's something here…" In the corner of the hallway was some sort of odd green machine, with a single button, a large slider, and a glowing light. Adjusting the slider changed the colour of the light: for most of the settings, the light was white. The light turned red on the second-lowest setting, and turned green on the very lowest.

The green light probably meant something would happen. Dimly aware of Mitsuru advising caution about this machine, I pressed the button.

The light enveloped me, and for a brief moment, my body felt entirely like (for lack of better description) soup. Afterwards, the light faded, and my surroundings changed: I was now back in the lobby, staring at a confused Mitsuru, Junpei, Yukari and Akihiko.

In front of me was another green machine with the same controls – I'd noticed this on the first trip to Tartarus, hadn't I? Instinctively I turned the light to green (second-lowest position this time) and pressed the button.

My body felt like soup again, and I was back of the fifth floor.

I pressed the button again, my body felt like soup again, and I was back in the lobby.

Button, soup, fifth floor. Button, soup, lobby.

"I think this is a teleporter."

_No shit, Sherlock._

Shut up, Lyra.

Mitsuru seemed skeptical, so I stepped aside to let her try it. Yep, she disappeared when she pressed the button. She returned moments later, looking slightly shaken, but largely enlightened.

"Arisato is right. This took me to the floor where he just was; I detected the same three Shadows on the floor. If there are additional machines like this further up Tartarus, our exploration would be made much easier."

Junpei seemed to light up. "A teleporter? Cool! Let me try." Mitsuru returned to me monitoring post, and Junpei pressed the button.

He reappeared shortly, looking substantially more dazed than Mitsuru had. "Whoa… that felt… trippy…"

I smiled at him. "How did you find it? For me, soup came to mind."

With a chuckle, he seemed to break out of his stupor. "Soup? I feel where you're coming from, but it felt more than that. It felt like… time? I don't know. Yuka-tan, you have to try!" He grabbed Yukari by the arm and, ignoring her objections, rammed her hand into the button.

Both of them disappeared. Huh. I mean, it didn't seem extraordinary that multiple people could be transported at once, but what if…

Before I could finish the thought, both of them returned, Junpei looking dazed again, Yukari more nauseated. "Urgh… my head… did you really have to make me do that, Stupei?"

"Well, we'll all be having to use it sooner or later, if we're going to be exploring this place. How do you feel?"

"How do I feel? I feel like someone rammed a spike into my brain! But I kinda get what you and Minato-san felt. And… Minato, why are you smiling?"

I'd finished my earlier line of thought. "Well, it could have been worse."

At her (and Junpei's) puzzled expression, I continued. "You know, a teleporter roughly works by turning you into information, moving that info and reforming you. But what if something could have gone wrong?"

A glimmer of fear appeared in her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Well, two streams of data had to be transferred. What if something went wrong in the transfer? What if, for instance, your mind had been transferred into Junpei's body?"

She gave a garbed shriek, and gibbered some vague sounds of denial. Junpei laughed as well. While I probably shouldn't have been enjoying this as much I was, I pressed on anyway. "There's more. What do you think Junpei would have if he'd been in your body?"

Something briefly lit up in Junpei's eyes, that was rapidly quashed by a foaming Yukari clawing his face and screaming various insults. "Don't even think about it!", "Pervert!", and "I will rip you a new one!" were highlights.

I would have laughed, had Mitsuru not dragged me off by the ear. "What you suggest could be troubling, Arisato. I will need you and Akihiko to test this possibility of yours."

Akihiko made some voice to protest, but fell silent at Mitsuru's cold, deadly gaze. We both meekly agreed to be test subjects.

After some fifty trips, neither of us had accidentally been detached from their body, lost a limb, grew a limb, exploded, imploded, gone mute, deaf, dumb or blind, or any other possible complication from teleportation. By the time we were done, Yukari and Junpei had calmed back down, damage limited to a few small scratches on Junpei's face.

"We can assume that accidents involving this teleporter will be minimal," Mitsuru spoke. "As such, this will be a great aid on our exploration of Tartarus."

Akihiko smirked and looked upwards, presumably towards the peak. "You got that right."

Junpei gave a light chuckle. "Sure beats walking."

Yukari gave a nervous laugh. "Just as no-one gets my body…"

I interrupted. "I'd rather keep my own. I, for one, like using urinals."

_Toilet humour. To think, I once had respect for you._

Unsurprisingly, that created a slap to the face from Yukari, a reprimand from Mitsuru, then a gentle wave of laughter from all around.

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Fool Arcana…**_

Huh. No floating card, and no 'I am you etc.' line. I'm guessing that's because I'm only strengthening a bond, not making a new one.

"Anyway, returning to the matters at hand." Mitsuru's voice returned me to reality. "Arisato, you seem to have returned to your usual self. There are fifteen minutes of this Dark Hour left. What would you like to do?"

It didn't take me long to make my decision. "Fifteen minutes should be fine for three Shadows, and our new teleporter can get us out quickly. We'll do one more floor. Junpei, Yukari, come with me."

The two of them looked relieved at my improved mood. We gathered together and warped up to the fifth floor.

We found the three waiting Shadows in the corridor. They were larger than the typical Shadows on the lower floors. Each of them resembled a black-feathered, keen-taloned eagle, but with a whitish mask in place of its head and beak. They simply hovered there, as if waiting for us to make the first move.

Three on three felt like a fair fight.

"Alright. Mitsuru… sempai," I began (honorifics were really annoying to remember), "I need a scan of these Shadows as soon as possible." I turned to face my teammates. "Yukari, stay back and heal us if necessary. Blast them with wind if you get the chance. I'm going to torch them. Junpei, use fire and try not to get too close, so I don't burn you. Got it?"

They both gave a curt nod, and readied their Evokers.

Alright. Let's do this.

I turned back towards the Shadows. Pulling out my last can of deodorant and my trusty lighter, I torched the nearest Shadow for a good ten seconds. I also heard to gunshots behind me, followed by the second eagle also being doused in flame, and the third being hit by a blast of wind.

I briefly turned off my flamethrower to check the damage.

There wasn't any. Huh. Usually, even the fire-resistant Shadows had a few scorch marks on them by now.

I continued torching the nearest Shadow. Still nothing seemed to happen.

"They're Venus Eagles!" Mitsuru shouted over the comm. "They're immune to fire and wind attacks!"

…

Well, shit.

The Shadows seemed to get bored and started attacking. They began to beat their black wings, and a deluge of cold and wind swept toward us. An incredibly concentrated blast managed to knock Junpei over.

"Yukari, make sure he's okay!" I dropped my useless flamethrower and pulled out my sword. I dived headlong into the wind and charged the nearest eagle.

It seemed surprised at my frontal assault, and before it could fly away, I'd sliced the tip of its wing clean off. Squawking wildly, it collapsed to the ground, where I slashed it to pieces.

Another squawk. I looked up. A second eagle was barrelling straight towards me. I barely rolled out the way, and while I was off balance, the remaining eagles took the opportunity to retreat near the ceiling. Well, that meant no more stabbing. From their new vantage point, cold and wind continued to pile down on us. Slowly, the cold began numbing away at our bodies, sapping away our strength.

"Yukari, can you try shoot them down?" Despite one eagle now being dead, the wind seemed to have increased in intensity, and it was a struggle to get my voice across.

"I already tried!" She shouted in reply. "The wind makes it impossible to aim!"

That wasn't an option, then. What else…

"Hermes!" Huh. When had Junpei got back up? "Assault Dive!"

With another bang that pierced the wind, the majestic blue-and-gold figure of Hermes appeared. He stood still for half a second, before taking off like a missile and careening towards the second Shadow.

The Shadow failed to get out the way in time, and Hermes rammed straight into it. With a damp, wet ripping sound, Hermes' visored head plunged into the belly of the eagle and emerged from its back. A moment later, both Persona and Shadow faded into mist.

The last Shadow gave an unearthly shriek, with a quality not quite like any conventional musical note. With that shriek, its wings began beating even harder, and the cold wind redoubled its strength, this time accompanied by driving fleets of snow.

I could barely make out Junpei's silhouette through the blizzard. Again his Evoker was pressed to his head, and again the shape of Hermes appeared. Again it rushed towards the Shadow.

This time, though, the Shadow was ready. It redirected the wind towards the encroaching shape, causing Hermes to crash into the wall, no damage done.

Okay… other options. Fire, no, wind, no, swords, no, bows, no, Junpei, no… Yukari? Maybe her Persona could be used like a missile as well?

"Yukari!" I shouted. I was promptly tapped on the shoulder by the brunette in question. When had she got so close?

"I think it's trying to round us up!" she yelled over the wind. Junpei soon staggered up to us, proving that hypothesis.

This felt bad. I tried to move away, back in the direction we came. The wind proved impassable, and I was blown back immediately. Well, that meant retreat was cut off as well. If we couldn't take this thing out, we'd be sitting ducks, and this blizzard would sap all our strength. Then the last Shadow could move in for the kill with its talons or something. In any case, we'd be dead.

Yukari briefly summoned Io to attempt to use as a missile, but she her flight through the air was inelegant and clumsy, and she was blow away more easily than Hermes had been. Other options… two missiles?

Hermes and Io both charged again, and were both blown away again. However, the eagle seemed only able to blow away one incoming thing at a time, which meant that Io had gotten closer than I'd hoped. I guessed that if we somehow had a third missile, we'd be able to take it out. Additionally, while the eagle had been preoccupied, the wind had died down slightly. Of course, the wind had immediately strengthened again, but that gave us a small window of opportunity to spread out, if needed.

Now, where to get a third, large missile…

_I'm right here, you know._

Erm… no. I'd rather not cover my friends' clothes in my blood. I'll look for some other options first, thanks.

_Fine then. The other option would be your own Personas._

Alright. Let's see. "Pied Piper!"

He appeared, then disappeared. I assume he played something on his flute, but it was lost in the wind.

Let's try that again, shall we? "Pied Piper! Ram that eagle, will you?"

Instead of him appearing, another voice echoed in my mind.

**Nah. I don't really want to. Maybe another time.**

There's not going to be another time! I pulled the trigger several more times.

Absolutely nothing happened.

Well, that had been pointless. Okay… was there anything I actually do without exploding bits of my body again?

_You have another Persona, you know._

Right. Which will blow us all up when I summon it.

_Hey, it's not the explosion which rips you to pieces. It's the shrapnel, and I doubt any shrapnel would be significantly harmful to you. The ice cuts from that last explosion healed up fine, didn't they?_

Fine, but we'll still all be sent flying…

Flying. Huh. The plan was stupid, but it might just work.

_You, my good sir, are an idiot. If this plan works, I'm not sure whether to praise or criticise you._

I grinned. "Yukari! Junpei! Do that missile-thing again! When the wind dies down, back away as quickly as possible, then follow my lead!"

Yukari seemed hesitant at my plan, but Junpei immediately pressed his Evoker to his head and called forth Hermes, who again dashed towards the Shadow. He was quickly followed by Io.

The Shadow redirected the winds toward the approaching objects, beginning to blow Hermes to one side. Yukari and Junpei took the opportunity to back away, back towards the entrance.

This was it. I had one chance, which even then probably wouldn't work. Well, better to have some chance than none at all.

I cocked my Evoker. "Angel!"

With a bang, a new silhouette began to form. Seemingly a young blonde woman, a pair of golden wings sprouted out of her back. More unexpected was how she wore little more than some leather strips, including a blindfold and a chained collar.

I didn't have to dwell on her dress sense. I yanked her down onto the floor and jumped on top of her.

Somewhere above, something crashed into a wall.

Let's hope this works.

Angel exploded. That was the first step.

I think the raw force of the explosion cracked some of my bones, or at least dislocated a joint or two. Okay, that hadn't been part of the plan.

I felt myself flying through the air. I'm pretty sure I ragdolled. Here's hoping I crash into the right thing…

I think that was the ceiling I just rammed into. That wasn't meant to happen. I've definitely broken something, and dislodged something else.

Okay, falling now… wait, something's slowing my descent. Black and feathery, and making odd squawking noises… it's the Shadow, isn't it? Well, at least this was roughly in the plan.

I've stopped falling. Yep, definitely broken something. The Shadow's still thrashing under me. That can't be good for whatever I've broken. Okay, I'm hearing footsteps… and now that sounds like a knife slicing meat.

The Shadow faded into a puddle, and I fell to the ground. Was I staring at the floor or the ceiling? I couldn't really quite tell…

Pain. Something was touching me, right where I'd broken something. I urghed. More pain, more things touching me. I was dragged up to a sitting position. Two people were in front of me. Some guy in a cap, and a girl in a cardigan. They made some noises. I urghed again.

A loud bang. Something else appeared. It glowed. I glowed. I felt weird. It felt weird, but it was still soothing. When I stopped glowing, I hurt less and my head felt clearer. I knew these people, didn't I?

"Dude, can you hear me?" I knew that voice. Who was it… who was it…

"We should get him out first. We can treat him in the lobby." I knew that girl's voice as well, didn't I? Minato, you know this! They're your friends! Stop being so dazed and just remember!

"Ju…Junpei? Yu…Yukari?"

The two of them looked at me in some mixture of shock and relief. "Dude, speak to me. Are you alright?"

"I… no. Something's broken, and something's not right."

A voice filtered in through an earpiece. "Get him down to the lobby, now." That was… Mitsuru, wasn't it? "We can treat him more effectively with more healers."

The two of them helped me to my feet, each step pain. It felt like eternity to get back to the teleporter. After we passed through, I collapsed again.

I was gently rolled onto my back. I heard several loud bangs, and I felt glowy again. The pain was beginning to dissipate, and my head felt clear now. I'd been in Tartarus, and I'd just used myself as a ballistic missile.

I managed to sit up by myself. At my improved condition, the healing stopped. Everyone was standing around me, all looking concerned.

"Could one of you explain what happened?" Mitsuru asked. "The wind cut off the signal, so I don't know."

I gave a light cough, to show I wanted to speak. "There were three Shadows, as you know. We dealt with the first easily, and the second by using Junpei's Persona as a missile. The last one, however, managed to trap us. We needed to defeat it, but one Persona-missile wasn't working. Two didn't work either. I guessed we would need three projectiles, so I decided to use myself as the third, with one of my Personas exploding as the propulsion."

Mitsuru held her silence for some time as she thought over what I said. Finally she spoke. "I understand why you did what you did, Arisato. However, as the leader of SEES, I have to condemn what you did as reckless and excessively dangerous. There were too many unknowns. What if you'd missed the Shadow? What if three hadn't been enough, and it had dealt with you in the same manner? What if you had suffered more injuries than you already have? Now we have to get you back to the hospital to see what you've broken. It was reckless, and I don't expect you to do it again." She finished with a cold glare.

Ordinarily, I would have shied away and grovelled. At that moment, though (probably due to pain or too many healing spells or something), I wanted to ramble. "May I speak, Mitsuru? Sempai?"

Slightly puzzled, she gave a slight nod, and I began. "I think there's one other big thing to note here. Sure, I did what I did out of necessity, and it was reckless, and in all honesty I didn't think it would work. But that's the thing: it did work. Last time, my power was pretty useless. Earlier today, it was also useless. Now, it's actually done something useful. To me at least, that knowledge, that my power isn't completely useless: that feels like the biggest victory of all today."

Mitsuru briefly looked lost in thought. "You have a point, Arisato," she conceded. "I will need some time to decide on the most appropriate course of action."

I nodded. I wasn't sure what she'd meant, but at least my point seemed to have been transferred across.

_**Crack.**_

Eh?

_**Thou art I… and I am Thou…**_

A new Social Link. Who was it with? Well, Mitsuru and Akihiko were the only ones here who I didn't have one with already, so it's probably one of them. More likely to be Mitsuru, given that I just talked to her.

The card appeared. It had a man with a bindle and a dog on it, wandering aimlessly. In fact, it was the same image as the one I'd seen on that 'Fool Arcana' card, except the man on the card was facing the other way, and the border was golden instead of the dull blue it had been all the previous times. Also, the number beneath wasn't zero, but the Roman Numeral _XXII_.

Okay, while I didn't know my Arcana, this didn't seem representative of Mitsuru or Akihiko.

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the True Fool Arcana…**_

Yeah, this probably wasn't Mitsuru or Akihiko. Who else would it be?

_There were five people in the room excluding me, and you didn't have a Social Link with three of them._

Three people…?

Wait.

_You get it now._

Had I just formed a Social Link with myself?


	9. Chapter 8

Summary of damage: one dislocated shoulder (left), one broken ulna (left), one dislodged patella (right), one twisted knee (right), two cracked vertebra (both thoracic), and seven cracked ribs (various), not to mention all the various bits of bruising. Everyone's various healing efforts had taken the edge off everything, which is why I ended up going to school the next morning instead of spending another day in hospital, but it would still be a few days before my bones were back up to scratch.

"Look, he's back…"

"He can't have been ill this time… it must have been something…"

"This whole 'mental issues' thing just has to be some sort of cover up! I won't stop until I reach the truth!"

Moronic rumours aside, the morning was uneventful. Junpei came up to me during the lunch hour. "'Sup, dude? Feeling better after last night?"

I groaned. "Everything still hurts. I mean, I'm not dying, but couldn't I just have one day off?"

Junpei gave a light laugh. "For the record, I thought it was cool. Reckless and dangerous, but still freakin' badass! And I feel your pain. The first couple of nights for me were hell as well."

That helped warm my mood, and it also reminded me of something. "I meant to ask you: how long have you been doing this? You seemed to have some previous experience of Tartarus."

He shrugged his shoulders. "I joined, what, two years ago? Mitsuru, Akihiko and a third guy were already there. We tried to explore Tartarus, but we didn't get very far, mostly because me and the other guy kept butting heads. I can't really give any more details. Mitsuru had most of what happened classified under pain of execution." He gave a visible shudder.

I decided to quickly change the subject. "How's living with Akihiko and Mitsuru been for two years?"

He snapped of his minor fit and shrugged again. "Honestly, kinda dull. They spent most of their time on school and admin, and mostly ignored me. Everyone seemed to envy me, though, living with the guy that everyone wants to be, and the girl everyone wants to be with. And now Yuka-tan's in as well." He gave an exasperated sigh.

I was puzzled. "Sorry, but how is that a problem? You just said you're hanging around with some of the most popular people in school. Even if they ignore you, can't you pretend they don't, and scam things from other people anyway?"

His eyes flashed back up, and he gave a small laugh. "Not a bad idea. You can do it. I guess that I just thought none of that ever really mattered to me."

"So what does matter to you?"

Junpei fell silent. "I don't know. That was part of why I joined, two years ago. To find something that mattered. I still haven't found it."

Another silence filled the air.

"You'll find it eventually. I know you will."

He smiled. "Glad to have you on my side, Minato. Remind me to thank you for that."

"No problem, dude." We shared a manly brofist.

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Magician Arcana…**_

"Anyway, you're probably busy with your own stuff…" Junpei began.

"Not really," I interrupted. "There's not much homework, and I'm not in any clubs yet, so I don't really have anything to do."

Junpei blinked at me in mild surprise. "Huh. Wait, that was also why I wanted to talk to you. The tryouts for the sports teams are tomorrow. You thinking of joining any?"

"Yes… actually, right now, that would be a really bad idea. Cracked ribs and all that."

He gave an empathetic sigh. "That's a bummer. You would have done great in kendo or something. Anyway, I'm now the baseball team's pack mule, so I have to carry some stuff over for tomorrow. I'll see you around." He left with a wave.

That did raise an issue, though. This year, how would I end up spending my free time?

_I'm still here, you know._

I know, Lyra, but I never spent that much time talking to you. In fact, what did I usually do?

_Eat, sleep, and play trading card games. Oh, and arson._

I felt like I should probably get some new hobbies.

* * *

With everyone else staying back to sort out things for the sports teams tomorrow, I decided to go back to the dorm early and do some admin of my own.

First: sort out new phone. Music had always made burning things more satisfying, and I wanted to have that bonus in Tartarus as well.

Second: look up Arcana. Wikipedia and a quick search managed to turn up all the things I needed. Twenty-two Arcana, from Fool to Fool, with a basic understanding of what each of them meant.

Next: check Elizabeth's requests. Most of them seemed simple enough: kill some beetle thing, explore Tartarus to find some stuff, take her out to the real world, those types of things. Most seemed simple enough.

One of them, though, involved fusing a Persona. Urgh.

_You're going to have to learn it at some point. Who knows? Maybe not all of them will explode immediately._

Sighing, I picked up the bright yellow book lying on my desk and began slowly reading.

The text was small, but the preface was easy enough to understand. As for the actual content…

'Definition Four: The Primary Quantum of a Persona is its Quantum with the highest density of Electromagnetic Severance Flux per unit 4-Radian, after normalisation. Secondary, Tertiary and subsequent Quanta are defined similarly.'

That was halfway down the first page. I flicked forward to see whether the book became any more understandable.

'Corollary Sixteen: observe that by applying Proposition Eight to the Median Glore of the Personas used in the Complex Fusion, the Glaucic Concentration of the Intermediate Supercelestial Corona can be halved. This is critical in making sure the resulting Persona is actually stable, as follows from the definition of Glaucic Concentration.'

Urgh. How was this meant to be for dummies?

After three hours of slow reading, rereading and notemaking, I finally finished page two. I quickly turned to the back to see that the book had three thousand and twenty-seven pages. Okay, that many pages, at one-and-a-half hours a page, meant…

_Four thousand, five hundred and forty-and-a-half hours. In other words, just over half a year in continuous reading. Who knows? If you don't have any friends and force yourself to hardly sleep, you might just finish it by this time next year. Assuming your pace per page doesn't slow. Which it almost certainly will._

I let out a groan. There would be no way I'd finish this any time soon. The pictures didn't help either: they all depicted the Personas being fused as Tarot Cards. That would be fine if I knew how to actually turn them into those Cards in the first place.

I had a sudden, vicious urge to destroy something.

_Knock yourself out. It's always fun to watch you burn stuff._

What looked like an interesting place to burn? I skimmed over my map. Huh. There was a shrine nearby. I'd never destroyed a historical monument before.

Wait. If I was going to torch this shrine, I was going to do it properly, not with some crappy aerosol-based flamethrower. Where was the nearest petrol station? And where could I get some Jerry Cans?

Everything went fine to begin with. I couldn't find any garages nearby, but I obtained some metal watering cans from a nearby garden centre. The surveillance by the petrol station proved to be too much, so I syphoned some fuel from nearby cars with some garden hose (also from the garden centre). Flammable liquid in each hand, lighter in my pocket, smile on my face, I was skipping merrily towards the shrine, eager to rack up some more damage to the country.

And then, of course, a police officer had to come my way. Ordinarily, this wouldn't have been a problem, except for three reasons: one, the garden centre had reported the theft of two watering cans and a length of garden hose; two, the smell of petrol from the cans was suspicious to say the least; and three (as I found out later), the police had registered me as a potentially dangerous, so every officer recognised my face and knew what I'd previously done.

Hence, I was waiting in the police station, waiting for someone else to pick me up.

The time passed in silence. The police milled about, all minding their own business, pointedly ignoring my presence.

_You know, it's sort of your fault that you're stuck here._

Shut up, Lyra. I don't want to talk.

Eventually, a familiar redheaded girl appeared before me. She was not pleased.

I gave a light smile. "Hey, Mitsuru… sempai…?"

If anything, her expression became even colder. I swear the air around her was freezing and falling to the ground in lumps.

I swallowed. Years of interviews with authorities had made me passable at reading faces. Usually, they wanted to intimidate, or to persuade, or to coerce.

Right now, Mitsuru's expression didn't want any of that. It called for death.

I tried to warm the situation, but anything I did seemed to make her crave my blood more. I finally settled for blank staring, waiting for her to speak.

The silence was deafening.

Expression unchanging, she began to speak. "Do you understand what you've done, Arisato?"

"Not burnt down anything?" Hopefully humour would defuse the situation... no, the air felt even colder now.

Her glare seemed to pierce deeper into my soul. "This is no laughing matter, Arisato. The police explained how they found you, and your intent was obvious enough. Last night was reckless, and I will continue to think about that, but this is on a whole new level. I will not tolerate such lunacy from members of SEES. There can be only one punishment for what you have done."

A cold sense of doom pervaded though my entire body, and it took every effort to not spontaneously run away, or collapse to the ground begging. Nothing would reason with her.

Her eyes narrowed, and one word came from her mouth. "Execution."

* * *

As a result of that night, I had persistent nightmares, I gained a deathly fear of the cold, I would never look at oysters the same way again, and I felt my soul break apart.

I may have been a moderate wreck at school tomorrow.

"I heard he got arrested by the police."

"Look at how beaten up he is. The police wouldn't have done that. At least, non-corrupt police officers wouldn't…"

"You see? Minato must have earned the displeasure of the criminal underground! We can't be seen near him, or they'll kill us too!"

That bothered me less than usual, mostly because I was trying hard to never blink. If I closed my eyes, the visions returned.

_Try not to get too worked up about it, Minato. Just move on._

The final bell rang. I sat there.

_Minato?_

"Arisato." The lurking fear that had lingered since last evening suddenly swept into every nook of my body, and I had to strain to not jump out of the nearest window.

I slowly turned to face her. "Yes, Mitsuru-sempai?" Do not forget the honorific. Do not piss her off more than necessary.

"Come with me. Now." She turned and left. I followed her as quickly as possible. Retribution could and would be dire.

When she heard my footsteps, she began speaking. "I've been speaking with the chairman. After some discussion, we decided it was necessary to temper your various impulses. As such, we have enlisted a psychologist for you." She made no effort to look at me.

I briefly considered telling her how none of the previous psychologists I'd had had worked, and how this would be an exercise in futility. Then I remembered she could execute me again, and I gulped and followed her in silence.

Eventually, we came to the nurse's office. "Arisato, meet Doctor Edogawa. Doctor Edogawa studied psychology at Tokyo University, and completed his doctorate at Harvard in the US. He has over twenty years of experience in the field, and is the most experience psychologist in the city. He's waiting for you." She walked away, still not looking at me.

Not entirely sure on the appropriate course of action, I swallowed and entered the room. The room was a nurse's office: simple, clean, well-lit, with numerous boxes of medicine and first-aid kits lying about. What was more interesting was the man sitting there. Tall, gangly, roughly shaven, he wore a white labcoat over a yellow T-shirt, with a pair of thick-rimmed glasses. His skin had an incredibly dull quality, almost like rough leather. In his hands was a magazine entitled 'Occult Monthly'. All in all, he reminded me of someone who'd escaped an asylum. Was this really the man giving me mental advice? Evidently he was, as the nameplate on his desk read 'J. Edogawa'.

He looked up at me. "Kekeke…" This man didn't seem stable. "Welcome to the nurse's office. How can I help you? I assure you, one of these cures will work on your illness…"

"Erm… I was told you're a psychologist?"

"Kekeke…" That was seriously creepy. "So you are Minato Arisato. Many of my brethren speak your name only in hushed whispers. They say you are impossible to reason with, and can destroy people's minds with a single word. Would you like a seat?" He gestured towards a chair. I politely declined.

"Kekeke… We are here about your behaviour. Perhaps you would like to talk?"

"No, not really."

"Kekeke… Very well. You may leave." He turned back to his magazine.

I stood there blinking as I tried to process what just happened. "Was that it?"

"Hm? You're still here? Kekeke… I've seen all my colleagues' reports on you, Arisato. No matter what the chairman or Miss Kirijo may want, I can tell standard procedure with you will be a lost cause. If you ever decide you want to talk, my door is always open." He turned back to his magazine again.

Huh. That was unexpected. For a moment, I stood there. The torrent of fear had disappeared, only to be replaced again by the nagging dread from before. I still had no intention to blink.

_Come on, Minato. Positive outlook and all that? Remember what you used to do when you felt down?_

I walked back to the classroom and sat down until everyone had to leave.

* * *

I spent the next day sitting down and blankly staring into the air. That was also how I spent the following day. I would have spent the day after that the same way, but it was a Sunday, so I spent the day staring at the ceiling in my room instead.

_Minato…_ Several times I felt a voice like that try talk to me, but each time I ignored it.

On the next day, as I was staring blankly into space again, Yukari came up to me. "Minato-san, are you alright? You've been like this for a couple of days…"

I said nothing.

"Yuka-tan, I told you he's become a zombie. You don't know what Mitsuru's executions are like… I don't like admitting it, but I was kinda like this the first time. Hell, Akihiko was kinda like this the first time. We have to let him be."

I continued staring blankly.

Yukari sighed. "I was afraid of this. Well, I hope this works." She turned to her bag and began looking for something.

I held my silence.

"What're you looking for?"

"I was worried about him, so I got something which I thought would help. He mentioned it in passing. Got it!" She lifted something up and placed it on my desk.

Magic: the Gathering. Conflux. 15-Card Booster Pack. Age 13+.

"Yuka-tan, do you really think this will work?"

"Honestly, I doubt it, but I had to try. Maybe… just maybe…"

Silence continued to fill the room as I read the label again and again.

I stood up and gave Yukari a hug. "Thank you." Screw psychologists. In all my life, through however many bouts of depression and sadness I'd experienced, only two things had ever helped. The first was arson, and it had always been more effective, but the second? Trading cards. No idea why.

Yukari and Junpei probably made some comment, but I didn't notice. I was too busy ripping open the pack and fanning out the cards. Mmmm… new card smell.

Mythic Rare. Progenitus. Oh yes. Think of the awesome… I felt my soul returning.

_Finally. Only took about five days. Do you know how uninteresting sitting around here is while you're all weak and gibbery like a raw steak? This is all your fault._

How was this my fault? I was the one who was executed.

_And that was because you were going to go burn something down._

Only because you told me to.

_I didn't tell you to. You had the idea all by yourself, remember? I just told you to get on with it. You made the choice. Free will and all that._

Free will? Wait, was this all some plan for me to understand consequence or whatever we were talking about, back in my brainspace?

_Actually, I did want you to burn the shrine, just to see what would happen. But hey, now you understand that if you try burn something down, you're probably going to get executed again. You get that, right?_

I guess. So, given that I really don't want to get executed again, I should probably keep the pyromania to Tartarus.

_That makes sense. You're sort of beginning to understand all this. You know, that execution was one of the finest pieces of torture I've ever seen. Such creative use of oysters and paint thinner. Next time I'm inflicting body horrors on you, I might borrow some ideas from that._

…I hate you, Lyra.

_I wouldn't have it any other way._

The clack of heels turned me back to reality, and I turned to see Ms. Toriumi approaching. "I didn't know you were a fan, Arisato." I was still holding those trading cards, wasn't I? "You know, if you're interested, the school has an unofficial Magic: the Gathering Club. I'm the teacher in charge. You're free to join."

I couldn't agree fast enough. "Count me in. What day, what time, and what room?"

I think I saw my friends smiling at how my mood had returned.

* * *

That evening, I gathered enough courage to grovel to Mitsuru for forgiveness. I'm sorry, keep the fire in Tartarus, the psychologist is really definitely absolutely helping massively, blah, etc., blah. That was the gist of it. She seemed pleased enough at my penance, and wrote off any further punishments.

I still felt the need to try appease her more, so I convinced everyone to briefly go to Tartarus again. My bones had sufficiently healed to go back to fighting (hooray for healing spells), but Akihiko was still sidelined (apparently, the same healing spells weren't as effective on quintuple arm fractures). Nevertheless, the regular Shadows were simple enough: flamethrower everything I could, get Junpei to finish off what was needed, and have Yukari heal. Honestly, I was surprised I was still the leader, but I was getting used to it.

Along the way, the variety of Shadows we fought increased. In particular, there were some giant beetle-things which I remembered Elizabeth wanted me to kill. The problem was she wanted me to bring a carapace to her as proof, and I had no idea how to transport something that was actually larger than I was. I had to leave it behind, sighing at the wasted effort.

Another thing: the floating cards didn't only create money and new Personas (on testing, any new Personas I found still exploded). Sometimes, I felt the weird tingling of being healed, or some other weird tingling that somehow made all of us feel stronger, and once physics seemed to evaporate completely as a whole sword materialised from thin air. That new sword was the one I was using now, having given to old one to Yukari for close combat – not that she could use it well. The one time she tried to use it, she almost cut off her own foot. I'm not sure how.

We'd climbed onto the tenth floor (surprisingly similar to the fifth floor) when Mitsuru chattered in over the intercom. "I detect three Shadows in your path. You'll need to defeat them to move on."

"Dude, there's another teleporter-thing here. Check it out!" Junpei had indeed found another green machine. He pressed the button, disappeared, then reappeared. "Yeah. Definitely a teleporter."

I quickly examined it. The interface was the same as the other two, except the light was differently coloured on various settings. Now it was red on the third-lowest, green on the two lower, and white on the rest.

Huh. This was the third teleporter we'd found, and the light was red on the third-lowest setting. That fit the pattern on the lower two teleporters as well. Could it be…

_You don't have to spell it out, Captain Obvious. I bet everyone else already had it figured out by now._

Shut up, Lyra.

"Okay. We'll get these Shadows out of the way for next time, then we'll leave. The Dark Hour should be ending soon, anyway."

"Um, Minato-san…" I turned to face Yukari. "Remember what happened last time? Maybe we should do this when we come here next time, so we're fresh for this."

I scratched my head. "You have a point, but this time we have experience. We should be fine. Same initial plan as last time. Mitsuru-sempai, I need a scan. I torch, don't get too close. Okay?"

Junpei understood. Yukari seemed doubtful, but she readied her bow. I walked down the corridor and approached the Shadows. They appeared to be some floating hands, each with a head and mask connected to the wrist in place of an arm. They reminded me of similar, smaller Shadows we'd seen on our way up.

Smiling, I pulled out another can of aerosol and began burning.

The flame touched the nearest Shadow, and it began twitching.

"They're called Dancing Hands! They're resistant to elemental attacks!"

Well, at least it wasn't immune. Still, if fire and all that wasn't great, then getting up close seemed like a better strategy. "Junpei, Yukari, cover me!" I ran straight forwards.

Hermes appeared to launch a barrage of fire, while Yukari notched an arrow. The Shadows proved surprisingly agile and dodged the arrow, before tanking the fireblast and in unison directing a blast of cold wind straight at me.

I froze. The cold was reminding me of that evening. I shivered and almost froze completely.

_For the love of… Minato, just get on with it?_

Okay. This was so much… less bad than getting executed. I can do this. I slowly took another step.

"Arisato, remember this was your call to fight now. If this call proved to be wrong, I may have to execute you again."

Oh god no. More out of panic than anything else, I burst into running, aiming directly for the Shadows. I crashed straight into one. Both of us fell to the ground.

It took me a good five seconds to get back to my feet, but when I did so the Shadow was still on the ground. There was a distinct me-shaped cavity in the Shadow's palm, where I'd ran into it. Huh. The other two were just hovering there, seemingly unsure of what to do.

"They're weak to blunt force trauma! Strike now!"

…Hey, my fists were blunt, right?

The end of that fight was somewhat anticlimactic.

"Welcome back," Mitsuru greeted us when we returned to the lobby.

"Um, sempai… what's that machine?" There was what looked to be an old brown radio in front of Mitsuru.

"This? It's a special monitoring machine, from the lab. I had Akihiko bring it in while you were in Tartarus. It simply gives us a visual feed on your actions instead of only audio." She tapped some buttons, and an image appeared. It looked like what I would have seen, had I been standing where Yukari was. "I had the necessary cameras installed in your earpieces."

"Yeah. Already it's been useful," Akihiko smirked. "I now know Minato punches like an ass."

I rolled my eyes. "Really. Like you can do better, cripple."

He laughed. "I'm willing to take you on right now, just to show how much you need to improve. My right arm's my weak one, but you're still going down."

"Oh, you're on."

I growled and charged, and was immediately on the floor. Akihiko had taken me out with a single punch.

Okay, maybe he had a point.

I groggily got back to my feet. "Urgh. How did you learn to punch like that?"

He shrugged. "I'm not the captain of the boxing team for nothing."

Captain? Urgh. No wonder my face felt like it'd imploded.

Akihiko continued. "I admire your attitude, though. Tell you what. When this arm finally fixes, meet me in the school gym. You could do with getting stronger."

I briefly paused. At the very least, strength would be useful in Tartarus. Also, if I ever got in a fight without my flamethrower, good fistfighting skills might just save my life.

I stuck out my hand. "I'm in." He took it.

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou art I… and I am thou…**_

The card had an imposing figure in a crown and cape, and was numbered _IV_.

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Emperor Arcana…**_

* * *

A/N: To briefly respond to reviews:

Blarg7865: Yes. Technically, the Pied Piper doesn't blow up on him, but he will eventually get useful Personas. It will take a while, though.

Nunas The No Name: Sort of (I'm guessing you're referring to Lyra). I don't want to give too much away (I'll say that things are probably more convoluted than you thought), but thanks for the support.

As always, feel free to leave comments or suggestions.


	10. Chapter 9

So, I joined that Magic: the Gathering club. Everyone there seemed nice enough – there was some guy whose voice I recognised as a gossip, Kenji Whatshisface, and (almost surprisingly) a girl, Fuuka Somethingorother, and a couple of less noteworthy people. Sure, they may all have been staring at me like nervous chickens, but that bothered me less than usual. Going 3-0 in my opening draft with a five-colour control deck, with no fixing or ramp, might have helped that. Hooray for Mana Screw.

(For those who don't know, 'Draft' is a way of playing Magic: the Gathering, in which eight players each take three booster packs and… you know what? If anyone who doesn't already know wants to know the details, they can look it up on the website or something. Suffice to say, it's a format for playing the game.)

Anyway, the club was small, and everyone had to take turns in doing various odd jobs for the club. That day, being the new kid and the winner of the draft, I was nominated with an overwhelming majority. Usually, this consisted of buying new packs for more drafting, or booking places at prereleases and other events (seriously, how had I missed the Alara Reborn prerelease?), but neither of those were currently pressing. Thus, with the help of some sticky notes and coloured pens, I was turning junk commons and tip cards into tokens.

I finished yet another crude stick figure, this one with a bow. That made all fifty 1/1 soldiers. That only left the 1/1 goblins. Then the 1/1 saprolings. Then the 2/2 zombies. Then the 1/1 artifact flying Thopters Kenji had wanted for his upcoming combo deck. And then the 8/8 beasts he'd also insisted on, even if he didn't own the card that produced them.

I sighed. This was going to take a while. I let my head fall to the desk.

…Huh. I could now hear some commotion outside. Some shouting, some laughing, and the pattering of feet. Where did that come from?

_A reminder that sound travels better through solid objects._

Fair enough. I should probably go see what's happening.

The club was located by the front door of one of the side buildings. Right outside was a familiar teal-haired girl kneeling on the floor, surrounded by a swarm of fake-tanned, bleached-haired, cold-hearted vultures.

"Please stop, Miss Moriyama…" the girl on the floor spoke weakly.

One of the vultures gave a cold, echoing laugh. "Really, dear Fuuka? Why, we're helping you here. We're inspecting your personal belongings, you know. Here!" She ripped the girl's schoolbag from her hands, tore it open, and emptied it over the cobbled tiles.

"Let's see what you've got here. Notes? Textbooks? Pens? Why, aren't you such a goody-goody? No fun stuff on you at all!"

Like a pack of hyenas, they all began to coldly laugh in unison. "Fuuka, Fuuka, what will we do with you?" "No-one like a goody-goody!" "We're so nice it's scary!"

The lead girl suddenly seemed to actually notice me. "Hey, you there! What're you looking at?"

"Your face. It looks awful. No wonder you spend your time doing all this, picking on people who can't fight back. With a face that ugly, your self-esteem must really be shit." From a moderate amount of personal experience, I found that the most efficient way for dispersing hyenas was to insult their ego and pride (especially appearances for girls). Well, that or a flamethrower, but there'd been a crackdown on lighters after a cigarette butt was found in the bathrooms, and mine had been confiscated.

"Wha- screw this! I don't have to deal with you. Come on. We're leaving." The swarm departed down the path surprisingly quietly, finally disappearing into the main building. The girl on the floor stared blankly on, seemingly mesmerised.

Shaking my head, I crouched next to her and began gathering her books. "You okay, Fuuka-san?"

She seemed startled at my voice. "Oh! Um, Minato-san… thank you for helping…"

"No problem." I handed her a pile of books. "I'll still be at the club if you need me for anything, alright?"

"No! Um… um…" she stammered, and blushed slightly. "It's… I'm sorry to be such a bother."

I tried to give a reassuring smile. "It's not a problem. Don't let them get to you. I'll see you around." I handed over her last books and gave a last wave goodbye.

I felt almost warm inside from helping.

_Please. You hardly did anything. When those bitches return, she's probably going to be all meepish and limp again. And hey, she probably won't have enough self-confidence to ask for your help anyway. All in all, you didn't really do anything there._

You had to kill the mood, didn't you?

I sighed and went back to making tokens.

* * *

I sighed and leant back against a lamppost.

"Ah, yes… an intimate encounter with one of your world's rarities…"

I'd had some free time, so I took up Elizabeth's request to show her the real world. We were now in Paulownia Mall, and I was watching over her while she was floundering about.

"This must be a fountain…"

Of course, if I'd known that she'd act like a six-year-old kid seeing the world for the first time, all the while hopped up on excess sugar and caffeine, I might have considered a slightly different course of action. Namely, showing her around the place at night. As it stood now, dozens of strangers were standing around, staring at the odd woman in blue, sticking out like a fish out of water.

_Look on the bright side. While she's there, policemen aren't looking at you._

That might have been a fair point. I briefly considered liberating some people of their wallets, before deciding against it. I couldn't think of anything I'd want the money for, and hence there wasn't much point of risking another execution.

_You used to be more fun, you know that?_

Shut up, Lyra.

Elizabeth was oblivious to the conversation in my head. "To make sport of water, well known by all to be the foundation of life… how wicked!"

"It's nothing special, Elizabeth. The…"

She cut me off. "But is that truly so? Is it not rumoured that the enchanting spirit of the fountain grants wishes to those who sacrifice a few coins?"

I scratched my head. "Well, yes, but…

"Wonderful!" She pulled out a bulging purse. "I shall make an opening bid to the fountain's spirit of one million yen."

Wait. One million?

An unreal torrent of coins began pouring out of her small purse. Everyone in the plaza stared on, as every rule of physics seemed to be defiled in that very moment. The torrent continued on and on, and just when it seemed to be dwindling into a trickle, she gave her purse another shake and the flood continued. Finally, after a good minute or two, she finally put her purse away.

"That was exhilarating!... Ah." Her face fell. "I was so caught up in the excitement of tossing in the coins, that I didn't give my wish any thought. This will not do…"

I swallowed. I didn't think that I should say this, but… "There are two more fountains over there. Do you see?"

She gave another upbeat squeal. "A trinity of fountain spirits?" She danced off towards another fountain. "Oh great and merciful spirit of the fountain, pardon my earlier error. This is a peace offering to you." She pulled out another purse.

After she ran off, I waited all of two seconds before plunging my hands into the water and grabbing as many coins as possible.

_Didn't you say that you couldn't think of anything you wanted this money for?_

Doing this on principle. Negligible reward is still worth minimal effort and zero risk.

I snatched three good handfuls before I was shunted aside by a fat man, who proceeded to dive headfirst into the fountain. Others were similarly trading dignity for money.

I gave a sigh. No more money for me; I wasn't prepared to go that far. I walked away from the splashes and met up with Elizabeth, just as she finished breaking physics for a third time. She greeted me with a large smile. "That was indeed satisfying. I apologise for the brief delay. Let us continue."

I took her around the rest of the mall, showing her anything that looked interesting, mentally facepalming at each of her reactions.

"Most Wanted? If I am correct in thinking of these as your version of my subjugation requests, what do they use as proof that the target has been subjugated? A piece of the body?"

"So this is a Record Shop. To convert sound into solid matter… while this is a marvellous artifice, I fail to see its purpose when one has lungs and voice. Veeelvet, Oh Veeelvet, My Master Has A Loooong Nose…"

"So this place claims to offer Herbal Massage and Spiritual Healing… I am not familiar with these terms. Last time I checked, these things seemed most associated with… what was the word? Placards? Placentas? Something like that, anyway."

"A Pharmacy? What variety of drugs do they sell here? I have heard rumours of a substance capable of inducing untold bliss… do you think they hold it here? I believe its name was Crystalline Methamphetamine."

"Is this a Club? A subterranean garden of uninhibited spectacle… oh? It's not closed, is it? I had hoped to join in on the wild ritual." (She followed this one with thirty seconds of what can only be described as 'dad dancing'.)

"A Maid Café? I had always wondered about the fascination that men have with maids… could you enlighten me on these reasons, Minato-san? Why are you shaking your head and backing away slowly?"

"Karaoke? The place where one can challenge even professional singers at the press of a button? Truly, this must be what it is to walk amongst kings!"

We ended up finishing the afternoon in the Arcade, where Elizabeth proved to be disturbingly good at Time Crisis III. After the first screen, she sacked me for incompetence, took a gun in each hand, and proceeded to take out every stage remaining without losing a single life.

Evening was beginning to fall when we finally returned to the Velvet Room. "So, Elizabeth. How did you find everything?"

She was positively beaming. "It was most excellent. I thank you for the invaluable experiences you've shared with me today. I consider this mission fully accomplished."

Oh, right, I was doing this because she wanted me to. Still, it felt good. "No problem. I'm here if you need anything."

Something flashed in her eyes. "Really? Well, this may sound forward, but I'd like to accompany you again some time…"

Crap. She wanted to come out into the real world again? Where people were? I considered trying to worm my way out of it, but I had promised cooperation about five seconds earlier, and she was staring at me with her sad puppy eyes again. "Alright. I'll see you around." I stuck out my hand.

She gave a squeal, ignored my hand, and crushed me in a hug.

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou art I… and I am thou…**_

Huh. New Social Link. Wasn't really expecting it, but I'm not complaining.

A simply-designed card appeared. All it had was a smiling sun on it, with _XIX_ underneath. No prizes for guessing what Arcana this was.

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Sun Arcana…**_

Well, I suppose it fit her blind optimism well enough.

"Anyway, your reward…" I got rewards for helping her? That seemed sweet.

Elizabeth pulled something out of her pockets. "Isn't this just delightful?" She handed it to me.

In my hands was a small red dress, seemingly designed for a very large doll. "What is this?"

She smiled again. "This is a Small Cheongsam, specially designed. You know what a Cheongsam is, right?"

"No."

"Regardless, this gift will allow you to fuse the Persona Hua Po. I would like to see how you handle her power."

Fuse… that seemed an issue. "Right… any advice on actually fusing things?"

She smiled again. "Have you looked at the Compendium I gave you yet?"

"No, but…"

"I recommend you do. It will be simplest to use whilst in Tartarus. Anyway, I wish you the best of luck! Come see me again sometime!" Before I could say anything else, she gave a final squee, wheeled back into the Velvet Room and slammed the door.

* * *

"Arisato, is that book really necessary?"

I was going to have to work out this stuff with Personas at some time. That evening, we were all in Tartarus again, currently waiting in the lobby. "Yes. Apparently, the weird lady who gave it to me said that it could help with my power."

Yukari looked doubtful. "Really? You're believing this woman who walked up to you in the street…"

"It was in an elevator."

"Whatever. The point is, she's probably crazy."

I smiled. "That's probably true, but hey? What's the worst that can happen?"

Everyone rolled their eyes. "Very well, Arisato. You may take that book with you."

I nodded, and teleported up. Junpei and Yukari followed shortly. "Guys, cover for me. I need to read this."

They sighed and began chatting. I sat on the ground and opened up the Compendium.

That's real leather binding this book. And this paper is really high quality.

_Focus on the contents, Minato._

Right. The inside front cover was blank. I started flicking through the pages: title, copyright notices, contents, large sketch of the Pied Piper, something that looked like an RPG character sheet, blank page, blank page, more blank pages, even more blank pages… a few pages were filled with entries for the other Personas I'd found, but they seemed insignificant against the mountains of blanks.

"Arisato, I sense something… be wary."

"Got it. This won't take long." I flipped back to the first spread. Time to try call forth the Pied Piper.

_I'm going to save you some effort here. You already have the Pied Piper in your head. He hasn't exploded, so he's still there. You won't be able to summon him from this book, so just save yourself the time._

I sighed, and skimmed forward to the next entry… Nekomata, a half-woman, half-cat thing, of the Magician Arcana. One of the ones I'd found and tested for explosions immediately.

"Dude, did you hear something?"

"No." I looked up at him. "Junpei, what would you do in this situation?"

"Huh?" He scratched his head. "Well, I'm not sure what you're doing, but it kinda looks like a magic book. Maybe some weird hand gestures?"

"Good idea." Gestures…

I resorted to wildly swinging my hands over the page. After a good ten seconds, a card suddenly emerged from the pages. Success. I crushed the card in my hand, and was rewarded by the tingling sensation of getting a new Persona.

This Persona Compendium business wasn't that hard. I felt I would need some more practice, and that I would need to work out exactly what hand gesture was appropriate for summoning, but that was a good start.

Now, how to fuse these Personas…

I started contemplating various methods when Yukari nervously spoke up. "Um… Minato-san… Mitsuru-sempai… anyone… what's that noise?"

Any words I could have said were cut off by what I heard. From somewhere in the distance, piercing the dead silence of Tartarus, echoed the icy clank of cold iron, mixed with the shrill rattle of chains. With every passing breath, the source seemed closer and closer, step by step.

Mitsuru's nervous voice came through the intercom. "Run. I sense Death."

…Well, shit.

I slowly stood up and looked at Junpei and Yukari. "Don't panic," I whispered. "It might not know we're here. Ready weapons, but draw attention to yourself. Stick together, okay?"

Both nodded in fear.

The next few minutes were some of the tensest in my life. Being stuck in a dark room with an entity called Death was bad enough. Not knowing where or how to get out was even worse; several times we stumbled into dead ends and had to backtrack, silently praying that our path out wouldn't have been cut off. The worst part, though, was when we realised that no matter what path we took, the sound was always coming closer. Whatever was here knew where we were, and it was hunting us. None of us dared to speak.

Then, almost inevitably, it happened. The rattling had grown to a point where we hardly dared to breathe, when we stumbled into another dead end. We returned to the last junction in the halls, and it was there, waiting for us. Like a macabre puppet, it floated, covered in dark rags and bloody chains. Two giant guns, one in each hand, left no question of the danger that loomed. One baleful yellow eye stared, almost mockingly, out of the tattered sack it had as a head.

This was what Mitsuru had sensed, and what had been chasing us.

This was Death.

_Actually, to nitpick, it isn't Death. It's death._

As I continued to stand there, rooted to the ground in shock, it spoke. "I've been looking for you."

I gibbered a scream and sprinted down a corridor. Death. I needed to get away from Death.

_Not Death, death. There's a difference._

A gunshot rang out, and a part of the ceiling collapsed in front of me. I stumbled on the rubble and fell to the ground, choking on a mouthful of dust.

Someone helped me up. "Got you, dude."

"Thanks, Junpei. Now run as fast as possible."

Shots rang out again and again as the walls and floors all blurred together into haze. Left, right, up, down, all of it became meaningless as we fled for our lives. Somehow, we didn't wind up in another dead end. I don't need to say what would have happened if we did.

Finally, in another cloud of dust, we saw our salvation: a tiny glowing yellow light, almost lost in the darkness. An access point. Safety. Freedom.

Another bullet shot reminded us that we weren't safe yet. Yukari dashed forward first, closely followed by Junpei. I was right behind them.

A bullet grazed my arm.

Yukari vanished.

A bullet grazed my ear. I swear I could hear laughter from behind me.

Junpei vanished.

I took another step towards the light.

A voice echoed from behind me. "I am inevitable. One of these bullets has your name on it."

I ducked in instinct.

Another gunshot rang out.

Blood trickled down my neck.

One more step. There.

As I began to disappear, the voice called out one last time from the darkness.

"Minato Arisato."

I felt my blood freeze.

"You will not escape me again."

* * *

I staggered into the lobby of Tartarus, and curled up into a ball.

Yukari rushed over to me. "Minato-san! Are you alright?"

I played over what had happened over and over in my head. Every part filled me with bleak fear, but one thing was more unnerving than anything else.

How had it known my name?

"Minato-san?"

"Let's take a break before we come here again."


	11. Chapter 10

The next evening, we had an emergency meeting to work out what to do about Death.

_Didn't you hear me last night? It wasn't Death, it was death._

I fail to see the difference.

_Just trust me. The difference is more than a capital letter._

Anyway, Mitsuru had also called the chairman, so there were six of us in the meeting room. She began. "I don't need to state the danger posed by what we experienced last night, but the issue of exploring Tartarus remains. As such, I have called you here to listen to your opinions on this matter."

Alright. I guessed most people would support running away.

The chairman cleared his throat and spoke first. "As your club advisor, I would recommend continuing your explorations." What. "I read the report you compiled, Mitsuru, and I think that this 'Death' can be easily avoided. We never encountered it before, and there seemed to be several advanced signs warning of its arrival. If we continue to explore floors briskly, there's nothing to suggest that we'd see this thing again."

Did he want us to get killed or something?

I stood up. "Sorry, Chairman, but I have to disagree with you. There may be no reason for us to expect it, but there's no reason to not expect it either. Who knows? Next time, it might be waiting for us, ready to kill. We were lucky. Is it really worth risking our lives again for… something we don't even really know about?"

_Look at you, speaking all formally._

Shut up, Lyra.

"Um, if I can say something…" Yukari began stammering, "I know how scary it was. I was there. But I still feel that we need to try find what caused the Dark Hour. Didn't you say that we could find our answers in Tartarus, Mitsuru-sempai? I mean, I don't want to go back, but if we have to…"

I turned to her. "Strictly speaking, we don't have to." Everyone looked at me like I'd suggested eating a baby. "Hear me out, okay?"

"No, Arisato." Mitsuru had another soul-piercing glare on. "We cannot let Apathy Syndrome run unchecked. We are the only ones who can do this."

"Which is another good reason why we shouldn't be risking getting ourselves killed."

"Arisato. If we quit, then the number of victims will only keep on increasing. Eventually, this country could collapse. Quitting is not an option."

"Well, if quitting isn't an option, why are we having this conversation? Why don't you just shove us back into that meat grinder of a tower and leave us to get hunted down by Death itself?"

Silence filled the room.

_To nitpick…_

Shut up, Lyra.

I slumped back into my seat and let out a deep sigh. "None of us expected this. I signed up because I thought it would be a good way to waste time. Now, though…"

You were right, Lyra. This way is going to be full of pain.

"Dude…" Junpei spoke up. "Even after blowing up your own chest, cracking half the bones in your body, hell, even after getting executed, you never seemed so… defeated. What's going on?"

I stayed silent.

"Come on, dude. Talk to me."

I stared at the floor. "It knew my name."

Silence filled the room again.

"Arisato, what do you mean?"

I looked up at Mitsuru. "I mean that it knew my name. After Yukari and Junpei left, it talked to me. That… thing that tried to kill me. It called out my name. Minato Arisato. I'm not an expert in Shadows, but that doesn't seem normal. It doesn't seem right. How in any hell did it know my name?"

Mitsuru's eyes widened momentarily. "Arisato. As long as anyone was in Tartarus, I was monitoring all the feeds. Nothing came in over the audio. Are you sure it spoke to you?"

I blanked.

"Arisato?"

What did it mean? Why hadn't anyone else heard it? What did it want with me? What had I done? Did it want to kill me? And above all, how did it know my name? A thousand questions flooded my mind, all answers elusive.

Lyra, some of those answers would be helpful.

…

Lyra?

_There are some things that man was never meant to know._

Bullshit. You can dismiss other things, but this is important for once. This feels like my life could be on the line here.

_Look, I want to tell you, but I can't. You have to trust me on this one, alright?_

…

_Alright?_

…

_Minato…_

fgjm[p-;3r/ewrt6li;uewt]-04[==;p

_Wow. Did you really just mentally smash your head into a keyboard?_

Yes. Yes I did. I'll go with you this time, but I want answers at the end, alright?

_I can promise you that._

"Arisato?"

I snapped back to reality. "Erm, I zoned out there… what were we talking about?"

"Are you sure you heard a voice?"

I nodded. Mitsuru turned to the chairman. "Do we have any records of previous similar situations?"

He scratched his head. "I'm not sure. I'll have to look it up."

She nodded. "Good. Does anyone else have anything to say?" When everyone was silent again, she continued. "I believe that we will have to continue exploring Tartarus at some point. However, given the unexpected circumstances, I believe that Arisato could be in more danger than the rest of us. As such, we will suspend explorations for a brief period of time, until Akihiko's arm fully heals, so we may have a fair exploration team without risking Arisato."

"Thank you, Mitsuru. Sempai." Everyone else seemed reasonably happy with the decision, bar the chairman.

"Does anyone have any final comments?"

Ikutsuki cleared his throat again. "Actually, I have two things. First, I arranged medical appointments for Akihiko and Minato tomorrow, to check how their bones are holding up. Have you two got that?"

We both nodded. "Excellent," he continued. "And now, I need to check how our transfer student is settling at school. Everything fine?"

"Yes."

"Feeling the need to destroy things?"

"Not as much."

"Are lessons okay?"

"Yes."

"Psychologist helping?"

"Definitely." These questions were getting annoying.

"Joined any clubs?"

"The unofficial Magic: the Gathering one."

The chairman seemed to grow wistful for a moment. "Ah, the game of Magic. I used to be more of a fan. Not much came in from the US in those days, so I had to queue for hours. I remember playing with Black Lotuses and Wheels of Fortune. Better times." Where was he going with this? "Of course, I drifted away from it slightly over the years, but I sort of came back to it two years ago. Blue-black faeries…"

Oh god no.

He continued. "That deck was great. I don't really know why, but I loved that deck. In fact, you could say that…"

Don't say it. Don't say it. Don't say it.

"…me and the deck…"

Don't make the pun!

"…just cliqued."

* * *

"I don't get it."

"Dude, why are you on the floor?"

"You don't want to know."

* * *

I had sufficiently recovered from Ikutsuki's pun to get my checkup. A bunch of X-rays, then a bunch of waiting around doing nothing. I slumped back onto my hospital bed.

Someone knocked at the door. "Door's open." I looked up to see a girl in a pink cardigan and a guy in a cap. "What are you two doing here?"

Junpei shrugged. "Akihiko asked us to bring something, and then we just came in to see how you were doing."

"Eh. Just waiting around now. What did he want?"

Yukari pulled a file out of her bag. "This. It's the class roster for 2-E, but I don't know why he'd want it."

I got up. "He has to have his reasons. Come on. I have nothing better to do, so I'll go deliver it with you."

I followed the two of them to Akihiko's room. It was almost identical to mine (including the distinct lack of a silver-haired boxer) except for the rather large and shady-looking man sitting in the corner.

He glared at us from under his surprisingly sinister beanie. "What do you want?"

Junpei seemed to have frozen completely, and Yukari was only stammering, so I took the lead. "We're looking for Akihiko Sanada. Have you seen him?"

The stranger gave a snort. "I could ask you the same thing."

At that point, the door opened behind us, and the man in question entered, clutching a pot of ramen. "What are all you guys doing here?"

Yukari seemed especially relieved at not having to deal with the stranger. "We came to see you! How's the arm?"

He shrugged. "Healing fine. It'll still be a few weeks, but after that, it should be good as new." He highlighted this by punching the air several times. "See?"

A deep, rough voice interrupted. "A checkup." The stranger rose to his feet. "Was that it, Aki?"

"Yeah. Thanks for coming."

The stranger gave another snort. "I don't have time for this shit." With that, he strode out of the room. He gave one final sidewards glare at Junpei just before leaving.

Junpei gave some sort of nervous laughter. "Eheheheh… what was he doing here?"

"More importantly, who is he?" I added.

Akihiko scratched his head. "He's a friend from school… sort of. You know how the number of Apathy Syndrome cases have been increasing?"

"No."

"Well, they have, and he knows a few people suffering from it, so I was asking him about it. Anyway, do you have what I asked for?"

"Sure." Yukari handed over the file. "What do you need it for?"

"Admin. This will be boring, so you should probably leave."

"Alright. I need to go to the boy's room." With that, Junpei dismissed himself.

Lyra, remind me to ask if Junpei knows that shady guy.

_Will do, as long as you remember I'm not your secretary._

"We should be leaving as well, Akihiko-sempai." Yukari bowed. I also made my farewell and left.

"Alright. I should be going back to my room before the nurses start looking for me."

"Sure. Um, Minato-san, before you go, just… can I ask you something?"

Couldn't hurt. "What's on your mind?"

"It's just… what are you doing for Golden Week?"

Huh. Golden Week already. "Not much. Why did you ask?"

"Well…" She began to blush slightly. "Just that… well, some of my friends are organising a group date and, well, I said I'd bring a guy… I mean, if you don't want to come it's fine, and I'll find someone else, but… I'm rambling, aren't I?"

_And she's still into you. This could be your chance!_

I'm still not taking dating advice from you.

_Okay, but at least take advice from yourself. Remember what you said? To paraphrase, if she's really into you, you're not going to turn her down._

I suppose I did say that…

_I recall that when you first met her, you thought of her as pretty. What do you say to that?_

Well…

_Just admit you're attracted to her at let it flow from there._

…Fine.

"Don't worry, Yukari. I can make it."

"Y-you can? Really?" She almost squeed. "Alright. We'll just go from the dorms together, okay? I'll tell you more on the day. And you should get back to the nurses. You wouldn't want them looking for you, right? Okay, bye!" She practically skipped off.

_You got it, tiger._

I entered my room again and collapsed on the bed.

Lyra, don't ever call me that again.

* * *

All my bones had healed up fully, so I was free to go back to my normal life the next day.

Absolutely nothing of interest happened.

And then it was the first day of Golden Week, which meant I was sitting awkwardly in a café while girls I didn't know talked amongst themselves.

I had attempted to strike up conversation with some of the other girls. Each time they had called me crazy or insane or deranged, or words to that effect, then resumed their chatter. As such, I was now resigned to lounging back while time ticked away.

_Except we both know why you're really here._

I looked over to Yukari, where some guy who really didn't know how to shut up had been rambling on at her for the best part of half an hour, and was now beginning to get slightly gropey. She replied with a brief look that cried for help.

_Fire solves everything!_

And gets me executed.

_The threat of execution may be a bigger deterrent than the execution itself._

What are you… Ah. I get it.

I made my way over to him. He seemed to hear my steps, as he finally broke his chatter to face me. "Can I help you?"

"Yes." With one hand, I grabbed him by his scalp. "I'm not sure if you realised, but my friend here," I indicated to Yukari, "seems to have tired of your talk. I would recommend that you stop now. Otherwise…" With my other hand, I pulled out my lighter, and placed it just so the tip of the flame was tickling his chin. "Do you get me?"

The meeps that came from him seemed to indicate compliance, so I let him scurry off.

Everyone else was now looking at me in some sort of horror. That would mean no more generic conversations, then. Sighing, I left the café.

I began walking away when a familiar voice called out from behind. "Wait."

I turned to face Yukari. "Hey. What do you need?"

She fidgeted slightly. "I just wanted to thank you. Thanks for getting him off of me."

"Don't mention it."

An awkward silence fell.

The awkward silence continued.

I sighed. Might as well bring it up now. "What was today really about?"

She looked surprised. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"You know what people at school seem to think of me. They probably all thought that I would do… well, what I did. I don't think you would have expected me to get on with them. So, what was today really about?"

She briefly looked more confused, before blushing slightly and staring at the floor. "It's just…" she mumbled. "Well… you know…"

I tilted her head back up and smiled. "Don't worry."

She grabbed my neck and kissed me.

_Well, that escalated more quickly than expected._

She broke off just as abruptly. "Sorry… since I joined SEES, you've been helping me so much and… I like you. Was that too quick?" She turned a deeper shade of red.

This was turning out to be a bit trashier than I had thought, but I could live with that. "Yukari, you're one of the three people I could probably call a friend, and the other two are a voice in my head and Junpei. I'd like to see where we go together."

Her eyes widened. "Are you saying…?"

"Would you go out with me?"

She let out a squeal and gave me a hug.

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Lovers Arcana…**_

* * *

The rest of the day was great. We ditched the group date, walked around town, had an early dinner at a burger place and caught a movie marathon. We managed to return just before the Dark Hour.

"Today was great, Minato-kun," Yukari said (I noted the change in honorific). "We need to do this again some time." She gave me a quick peck on the cheek and walked through the front door before I could say anything.

After what had happened in Tartarus, things were looking brighter.

Mitsuru was sitting in the lobby with a book, seemingly waiting for us. She frowned at my late return to the dorm, then turned to Yukari just as she was hopping up the stairs. She saw it. "Take care, Arisato. While I wish the two of you the best of luck, if this ends badly, the group dynamic could be damaged."

I tried to look reassuring. "Don't worry, Mitsuru. Sempai."

She smiled and turned back to her book.

Halfway up the stairs, the Dark Hour hit. While it was slightly annoying that I couldn't have a shower without waiting another hour, it wasn't enough to get me down too much. Besides, I could just shower in the morning.

Whistling gently as I entered my room, I stopped in my tracks when I saw who was inside.

"Hi, how've you been?"

Sitting on the edge of my bed was the strange boy in the striped pyjamas.

I gently closed the door behind me. "Who are you?"

The boy frowned. "What kind of welcome is that? I've always been with you. I suppose you don't fully remember me, but I've always been by your side."

I resignedly shook my head. "Fine. I can deal with one more question unanswered added to the million or so already there. Anyway, why are you here again, as opposed to any of the other nights since last time we met?"

The boy shrugged. "I felt like that I had to warn you."

"…warn?"

He nodded. "Do you see the moon, growing in the sky? Soon, the moon will be full. Be careful. On those nights, you will face your greatest trials. A new ordeal awaits you."

"Wait, hold on a minute! First, what do you mean by ordeal?"

The boy simply smiled. "I'll come see you again when it's all over. Goodbye for now."

He dissipated before I could say anything else, leaving me there with my mouth hanging open.

An ordeal. Great. However vague his description had been, from the experience of Shadows I'd had so far, I guessed it would be something big, angry and probably lethal if incorrectly approached. Great.

_You really cannot catch a break._

Wordlessly, I picked up my waste paper bin, swept in some more scrap paper lying around and stalked out of my room.

Mitsuru stopped me in the hall. "Where do you think you're going at this time, Arisato?"

"Outside. I really need to burn something right now."


	12. Chapter 11

Five days until the full moon. Five days until something would try to eat me.

_Hey, if it's a Shadow (which it probably will be), 'eat you' is misleading. 'Syphon your brain and reduce you to a mindless husk' is more accurate._

Reassuring as ever, Lyra.

Yukari was the only one who seemed to notice my change in mood – to be fair, she had been the only one to see me more upbeat. When she asked what had happened, I gave a vague response. "I just have this feeling that something bad is going to happen."

And then it was Saturday, the Fifth of May. The night of the Full Moon.

Hoping that the night would pass without incident, I went to bed earlier than usual. I'd finally beaten Cthulhu at Diplomacy, and we'd roped in Hastur for a game of Risk when _BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP_.

_So much for without incident._

Blurgh. I rolled out of bed, pulled on a dressing gown and stumbled out of my room. I then realised that everything was green.

The Dark Hour. Great. A Shadow was probably going to try kill me tonight.

A smiling Junpei walked out of his room, in a pair of pyjama pants and an inside-out shirt, wiping the sleep from his eyes. "Heh. This is your first proper emergency Shadow operation, isn't it? Come on. We need to get to the command room."

I followed. "What's happening?"

"The Shadow alarm went off, which means Mitsuru probably detected a Shadow outside of Tartarus. She'll probably explain when we get there." He seemed surprisingly nonplussed.

Akihiko was waiting with Mitsuru when we arrived. "Good. You're here," she greeted us. "Now, for Takeba…"

Yukari burst through the door behind me, evidently flustered. "Sempai? Guys? What's happening?"

Mitsuru's response was calm as ever. "We've detected a Shadow outside of Tartarus. All indications point to it being another large one. We need to defeat it as quickly as possible. While most people are unaware of the Dark Hour, there will be panic if half the city is destroyed."

Yep. Big Shadow, out of Tartarus, going to try kill me.

I spoke up. "Are we ready for this?"

Mitsuru replied. "Regardless of whether we are or not, this has come up, and we must deal with it." Politely avoiding the question there. Not going to be able to get out of this.

She cleared her throat again. "Akihiko has already agreed to stay here and wait for the chairman." He gave a resigned nod of compliance, and she continued. "Arisato, you're in charge again."

I blinked. "What?"

"The presence of Death will not be a factor here. Given that you led the prior team in Tartarus, we felt it would be appropriate for you to lead again."

I forced myself to nod. Definitely not getting out of this.

Mitsuru continued speaking. "Gather your things, and wait for me in front of the monorail station. I will need some time to prepare things."

I tried to give a reassuring nod. "Got it." I turned to Junpei and Yukari. "Get your stuff and meet me outside the dorm in three minutes." They nodded, and we all left.

Back in my room, I changed into my 'SEES Special Excursion Uniform' (everyday school uniform with the special red armband). I'd packed my lighter and several cans of aerosols, and was just fastening my shortsword onto my belt, when I saw the large, leather-bound book lying on my desk.

_You should probably take it._

Why? It'll be heavy to lug around, and I probably could do without it.

_Trust me. Something tells me it could be extra useful tonight._

'Trust'. That thing again. Sighing, I picked up a rucksack and put the grimoire inside, before going down to meet Junpei and Yukari.

* * *

We had waited for a few minutes at the rail station, before Mitsuru came roaring down the street on her motorcycle. She set up her usual monitoring equipment, told us the Shadow was on a monorail car, reassured us that we wouldn't get electrocuted and sent us off on our way.

That motorcycle had been badass.

_Focus on the issues at hand, Minato._

Right. We had just arrived at the rail car in question, when Mitsuru's voice crackled in over the comm. "The readings are definitely coming from within this monorail. Be alert."

"Understood." Nothing looked out of the ordinary with the car. "Let's go." I climbed through the open door. Junpei followed, and we pulled Yukari up.

"Hold on," Yukari spoke up, "isn't it weird that the doors were open? I mean, we're not at a station-"

The thunk of the door sliding shut cut her off.

Hmm. This seemed bad.

_Well done. A gold star for you._

I briefly tried to prise the door open, to no avail. "Well, we're trapped here."

Mitsuru's voice crackled in again. "The Shadow must be aware of your presence. Proceed with caution."

"Alright." I turned to Junpei and Yukari. "Get your weapons ready. Be ready for anything, and follow me." They nodded.

In the green haze of the Dark Hour, the inside of the cars were deathly silent. Almost too silent. With the narrow doorways from car to car only letting one person in at a time, it felt like the perfect place for an ambush. The occasional coffin propped up against the seats didn't help the mood.

And then a Shadow dropped from the ceiling.

On pure instinct, I pulled out a deodorant can and let burn. The Shadow seemed to be sensitive to fire, as it started convulsing as soon as it was shrouded in flame.

Ahhhh. I didn't realise how much I missed uncontrolled burning. The warm oranges and reds really helped to lift my mood.

Wait, the Shadow's escaping. Come back here! I'm not done setting you on fire!

It was only after I ran into the next car that I realised what I had done might have been incredibly stupid.

A giant swarm of Shadows dropped from the ceiling, all their attentions of me.

Well, shit. I suppose that this was great planning and foresight on the Shadows' part, though.

_Why is that relevant?_

It's not, and I should probably get back to trying to not die, shouldn't I?

_Yes. Yes you should._

Just before the Shadows swarmed me, I got a look at them. A pile of floating tendrils, with some sort of crown on top. The crown also contained a book. They weren't the most elegant Shadows.

Anyway, they were swarming me, and I struggled to beat them away from my throat.

Flamethrowers wouldn't work at close range, would they?

Gritting my teeth, I pulled out my sword and rammed it into the first Shadow in my way.

With an echoing scream, the Shadow began thrashing about, as if another jet of flame had hit it. The violence managed to rip the sword from my hand, before that Shadow finally dissipated.

Before I could pick it up again, a blast of wind slammed into my back, almost bowling me over.

If Ikutsuki was here, I would imagine he would make some sort of pun liking the deteriorating state of affairs to my earlier disarmament, given that both were getting 'out of hand', and I was getting distracted again, wasn't I?

Well, then. Trying to get my sword back would just leave me open to getting swarmed and eaten. What else did I still have to use? An Evoker. So I could summon the Pied Piper, who would probably do nothing, or someone else who would blow the train up. Either way seemed… counterproductive. The only other thing I had was the Compendium, which seemed to big and clunky to use.

…

Huh. Big and clunky. That might actually be useful.

I beat another book-thing from my face and slid the Compendium out of my backpack. Gripping it tightly with both hands, I smashed it into a Shadow right by my arm.

With a solid thunk, it bounced off the floor, crown dented, before I stomped it into ichorous paste.

Swing, stomp. Swing, stomp. Swing, stomp.

This was smooth. I was getting into a rhythm here. Ding, dong, ding, dong, di- oh god a Shadow just latched onto my face.

I dropped the Compendium and tried to claw it off when, just as abruptly as it had clung on, it burst. An arrow had barrelled straight through it.

With a loud bang, the golden shape of Hermes appeared and began cleansing the room with fire. The rest of the Shadows didn't last long.

Yukari came straight to my side. "Minato-kun! Are you alright?"

I wiped the ichor from my eyes. "I'm fine. Thanks for asking. And Mitsuru? Sempai?" I looked up. "I know you're listening. I know what I did was reckless and dangerous, and I won't do it again."

"Very well, Arisato."

Grovelling done, I picked my sword and the Compendium back up before turning to Junpei and Yukari. "Are you two fine?"

"Sure am, dude." Junpei smiled. "It sure was nice of you to get beaten up on our behalf."

"Yeah, yeah. How long did it take for you to help me? An hour?"

"Hey, it only took ten seconds."

"Took me zero. You're getting slow, Iori."

The banter could have gone on for longer, but was interrupted. The train suddenly lurched forward, and we all fell to the floor.

"Mitsuru-sempai! What's happening?" Yukari yelled as she clambered back to her feet.

"It seems that the monorail is under the enemy's control. If we can't stop that thing, then you'll crash into another train."

…Well, shit.

"Mitsuru. Sempai. How do we not die?"

"The strong presence seems to be coming from the front car. If you defeat it, the train should stop."

I pulled out my sword. "You heard her. Let's go!"

Another car, another pile of Shadows. "How long do we have?"

"I estimate it at ninety seconds. You have to hurry!"

Shadows. "Eighty."

More Shadows. "Seventy."

Even more Shadows. "Sixty."

And then we burst into the front carriage. For a brief moment, we were all silent as we stared at the waiting Shadow. It resembled an old hag of a woman, wrinkles, sags and all, sprawled on the floor with legs wide open; a white skirt thankfully covered up anything that might have been down there. Half its body was white, the other black. Long streaks of white and black hair floated down from her masked face, almost like strings of ramen floating in soup.

…Why had I thought of ramen of all things?

Mitsuru's voice turned me back to reality. "You only have fifty seconds! Hurry!"

I pulled out a flamethrower and shot out a fire jet.

The Shadow snapped its fingers. A smaller one dropped from the ceiling, vaguely resembling one of the Shadows from Tartarus. 'Muttering Tiara', Mitsuru had called it. It simply floated in the way of the fire, completely unaffected.

Yep. Immune to fire, just like the ones in Tartarus. "Yukari! Blast it down!"

"Got it! Io!" With a bang, the Cow-Lady appeared and sent a blast of wind at the Tiara, and an arrow finished it off.

I resumed my flamethrowering.

It simply snapped its fingers again, and another Tiara dropped from the ceiling. I looked up, and saw enough black shapes to guess that we wouldn't be getting through them any time soon.

"Forty seconds!"

I dropped my flamethrower and drew my sword. "Junpei! Fire won't work, so get up close! Yukari, cover us!"

With the bang of another Evoker, Hermes appeared and pounded the Tiara into mulch. Gritting my teeth, I charged.

The Shadow suddenly seemed to laugh, and its hair suddenly began wisping around, like snakes following a pipe. Then one of the strands lashed out and suckerpunched me.

Ow.

I unsteadily rose to my feet again, helped by the glowiness of being healed. I looked up to see Junpei struggling against the hair, which was now acting like twenty parrying blades, all at once. "Pull back! We need to get some strategy here!"

"Arisato, make it quick. You're running out of time."

Alright. I said the first plan that came into my head. "Advance together, and try use your Persona as a shield." I pulled out my Evoker. "Pied Piper!"

He appeared in front of me, seemingly ready to take any hits necessary.

That worked for all of one second, before he got pulled away and I was punched again. The plan worked similarly well for Junpei.

"You only have thirty seconds left!"

Screw this. Time for the Amazing Flying Minato Arisato.

"Nekomata!"

The cat-lady-thing appeared. She then exploded in a fiery burst, and I wondered whether I was on fire. Then I realised I was flying, and then I realised I'd been swatted out of the air and was now on the floor again.

Why does every major fight involve me getting beaten up in one way or another?

_Could be worse. Hardship builds character!_

My clothes had been singed slightly, but they were holding up. I got back up, again aided by being healed. Sometime during that flight, I'd dropped my sword, and there wouldn't be time to find it.

Well, if at first you don't succeed…

My backpack was still there, and I pulled out the Compendium again, and called forth a couple more Personas for the same purpose. I cocked my Evoker.

"Apsar-" And the Shadow had turned its hair strands into daggers and was trying to turn me into a colander. Great. Where's a meatshield when you need one?

Oh, right. In my head. "Pied Piper!"

I pulled the trigger, and a bang filled the air.

Time stopped.

_**Crack.**_

Wait, what?

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the True Fool Arcana…**_

Then time started again, and Apsaras appeared. And then the Pied Piper also appeared.

What.

I think I just summoned two Personas by accident.

The Pied Piper was now playing some little ditty on his flute, and Apsaras was dancing along nicely.

Why hadn't she spontaneously exploded yet?

The tune was reaching its climax. The tempo and volume had both increased, Apsaras was dancing even more vigorously, and the Pied Piper was even swaying with his own music.

_We're at the climax. Hum along for this last bit. _

Erm… no.

_Suit yourself. Duuum… deee… DUUUUUHHN!_

With a final flourish, both the Pied Piper and Apsaras exploded into some sort of glimmering dust. The dust fell on all of us, and I felt refreshed and energised.

"Twenty seconds!"

The Shadow lunged again with its hair-daggers. I quickly sidestepped, and my feet really shouldn't be moving this quickly and this feels really weird.

I crashed headfirst into a window. Great.

"Look out!"

On instinct, I jumped. About six feet into the air. The hair passed under me without incident.

Yeah, I had no idea what was happening. Again.

Eh. I could worry about that later. First, to not die.

_Good plan. Attack its weak point for massive damage!_

…Really?

_Look, aim for the mask, okay? There's not really enough time to go with your conventional tactics._

I sighed, and cocked my Evoker again. "Angel!"

Said Persona appeared, still looking like a bondage slave. I quickly prepared myself, and was flying again.

Wait, the Shadow's going to try stab me now, isn't it?

Countless streams of hair were now flying at me, ready to turn me to a kebab.

More in blind hope than anything else, I willed my body to move.

It did.

I had no idea how, but my body was obeying every single twist, turn and flip I wanted it to. It was close, but I dodged everything. It was kinda like _The Matrix_, but in real life.

Like that, I landed on the Shadow's face. I wasn't sure how I got there – the Shadow wasn't sure how I got there – but I wasn't going to let this chance go.

With one hand, I grabbed the mask and prized it from its face just enough. With the other, I put my Evoker to my head. "Pixie."

A small, blue fairy appeared, and I wasted no time in ramming her into the nook I'd just made. With a final mocking smile goodbye, I leapt off the Shadow, did a couple of backwards somersaults for value, and landed just as Pixie exploded.

A small rain of ceramic shards fell over the car, and I turned to see the rest of the Shadow dissolving to formless ichor.

I turned back to my team. They looked to still be processing what just happened. I gave a reassuring smile. "We did it. It's going to be fine."

"Arisato." There was more than a hint of panic in her voice. "The train isn't slowing." Wait, what? "In ten seconds, you will crash. You have to stop it manually."

Well, shit. There had been a lot of moments like that tonight. "How do I stop it?"

"Go to the front car. There should be a button or lever or something."

With the Shadow gone, the door to the front was open. I burst through. Buttons, levers, bolts, flanges… which one did I hit?

Big red button?

My hand was hovering over it, when time seemed to slow.

A thousand images flooded my mind. Steel. Sparks. Destruction. Fire. Blood. Death. Ends.

Time sped back up again.

What the hell had just happened?

My head was now throbbing as well.

"Five seconds!"

Shit. No time to dwell. I moved my hand from the button. Green lever? Looks good.

I yanked it with all my might.

The brakes slammed on, and I tumbled to the floor.

Dontcrashdontcrashdontcrashdontcrash…

With an audible ping, the train slid into another one waiting on the rail, before finally coming to a stop. That probably counted as a crash, but we weren't dead.

Also, where had this headache sprung out of? It wasn't too bad at the moment, but it was still annoying.

I got back to my feet just as Junpei and Yukari came into the front car. "Did we stop?" he asked.

I nodded. "At least, we're not moving."

Mitsuru's voice crackled in again, full of worry. "Is everyone alright?"

"Y-yeah, I th-think so… ha… I'm shaking so much…" Yukari quivered.

Mitsuru gave a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad you're all safe. I'm sorry I couldn't do more on my end. Out of curiosity, Arisato, how did you know which one was the brake?"

I blanked slightly. "Um… I didn't."

Junpei stared at me. "Dude, are you shitting me?" Then his shoulders slumped, and he sighed. "Eh. Whatever. Is anyone else hungry?"

I nodded. "Saving trains works up an appetite."

"I'll order some food for you when the Dark Hour ends," Mitsuru added. "You've earnt it."

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Fool Arcana…**_

I shook my head gently to try clear my headache. No luck. Some water back at the dorm would help.

"Um, Minato-kun…" Yukari began. "There's something…" She ended her statement by scratching her upper lip.

I touched my lip, and realised I was having a nosebleed. "Huh." No idea how or when that started. "We can deal with this later. Let's get going."

I took one step.

Wait, is that the floor rushing up-

I passed out.

* * *

Everything was black and formless, yet strangely familiar.

_Welcome back to the depths of your mind._


	13. Chapter 12

I quickly checked whether I was breathing. Nope, I wasn't.

Alright, then. Why I am here this time?

_You're going to have a couple of questions about what just happened. I decided to call you back here to get those over and done with now. Fire away._

Okay… I thought back over the events as they had happened, and questioned everything which seemed even slightly odd.

Firstly, how did the Shadow take over the train?

_Shadow powers. Next._

I have to say, that's not exactly a satisfactory answer…

_In the end, does it really matter? Shadows are weird. Roll with it._

Fine. How did the Shadows develop tactics? The regular ones in Tartarus didn't seem intelligent enough for complex bait-and-ambush tactics.

_Hive mind mentality. The large Shadow at the end was more capable of creative thought, and that expanded onto the smaller Shadows. Roughly speaking._

Well, why was that Shadow special?

_Shadows are weird._

Urgh. Would it hurt that much to give more meaningful answers every now and again?

_Honestly, I'm surprised you're dwelling on these small issues so much. I'd have expected you to jump straight to the big, flashier stuff._

Just answer the questions, Lyra.

_When you wake up, ask Mitsuru about her Shadow classification system. That might help a bit._

How much is 'a bit'?

_Not much, but enough to be able to tell minor differences between Shadows and hence their various actions. I'll fill in some gaps when you get that information._

Well, if it's the only way I can get help, that's what I'll do. Next, and probably most importantly, how did I summon two Personas at once?

_You're special like that._

…Really?

_Should I fetch you some teacakes so we can bask in your splendour?_

Don't be sarcastic.

_Well, what else do you expect me to say? A detailed lecture on every microscopic facet of the initial conditions of the universe and the resulting consequences that led to you being created with your power? Fine, except that time is passing in the real world in one form or another, and no matter how much we slow down the speed of its passing, by the time we'd be done your mortal body would long have dissolved into shapeless dust. Your power is special. Deal with it._

I hate you.

_I know. Next._

Fine. After I summoned Apsaras and the Pied Piper at the same time, what was up with all that music and stuff?

…

Lyra?

_I'm thinking about how best to phrase this. This is important, so listen up._

You're actually giving me a straight answer? I'm listening.

_To oversimplify massively, your Personas can be thought of as a form of energy._

Where are you going with this?

_Shut up and listen. As I said, as generalisations go, your Personas are basically energy. Now, if you bring two Personas into close proximity like you did there, their energy will interact. Depending on a combination of… way too many factors, one of two things will happen: the first option is that the energy disperses outwards, like it did on the train. This is called a Fusion Spell._

Fusion? Does that mean…?

_Yep. The other option is when the energy coalesces and creates a new Persona for you._

Sweet. Maybe I can fuse up something really slick.

_Before you try, be careful. You never know if you'll end up getting a Fusion Spell instead, and trust me, most of those aren't anything like the one on the train. Most of them just end up obliterating everything in a fifty-foot radius, you included. And given the unique nature of your power, if you did manage to fuse a Persona, it would almost inevitably explode and obliterate everything in a fifty-foot radius, you included._

…You really had to burst that bubble, didn't you?

_I've been doing it for ten years. Any more questions?_

While we're on the subject, what did that Fusion Spell actually do?

_Heals everyone on the party and increases their agility._

Increased agility… so I guess that's why I managed to run headfirst into a wall.

_Yep. And how you could do all those flips and twists in the air. Try it again sometime._

That's all the questions about the battle… now, about the aftermath. After the big Shadow died, why didn't the train stop immediately?

_Shadows are weird._

…I hate you.

_You've said that already. Next._

Fine, then. What was up with that stream of images while I was hovering above the red button?

_Simply put, you had a premonition._

…What?

_Those images where showing what would have happened if you'd pressed that button. Everything would have exploded and crashed and burned, and you all would have died in fire and pain._

…That seems quite hard to believe.

_So is the presence of a twenty-fifth hour of the day, during which the Earth doesn't even rotate._

…Point taken. So, why did it happen?

_Honestly, I'm not entirely sure, but I think the Shadow could have had something to do with it. I'll have to check up on that._

Well, as second sight seems useful, could I experience these premonitions again?

_You probably could, but I wouldn't recommend it._

Why not? As I said, being able to see into the future seems like it would be handy.

_Remember the headache and nosebleed you had afterwards?_

Yep. I was going to ask about them next.

_Those were direct consequences of your vision._

I think I can deal with a nosebleed and a headache.

_Well, 'direct' may not have been the best word to describe it. They were symptoms of the one thing which that vision actually induced._

Which was?

_A brain haemorrhage._

…Run that by me again.

_A brain haemorrhage. Not a massive one – something you might suffer from falling down a flight of stairs – but still a brain haemorrhage. The point is, the human brain isn't really designed for having premonitions._

…So you're saying that if I try see the future, my brain will simply end up frazzling?

_Basically. The more information transferred, the bigger the haemorrhage._

Okay, then… but suppose it happens again accidentally, like tonight. What then? Will I just bleed and die?

_I stuck you back together after blowing up your chest, remember? I can deal with occasional issues like that._

Why can't you deal with that stuff often, then? Not having to worry about 'death' would make Tartarus explorations much safer.

_The more I intervene, the greater the chance of the world spontaneously exploding. Or imploding. Or all life otherwise becoming completely and utterly annihilated._

…Wow.

_I'll explain when everything's over. Until then, trust me._

I'm already doing it, no matter how grudgingly.

_Any final questions?_

…Come to think of it, why didn't I need to do anything with my Evoker, unlike last time?

_Basically, by doing that, you gave me free reign into your mind. That's how I can actually call you here to talk with you, and why I can patch you up if necessary without action on your end. I'm not going to exploit this more than necessary, though, because aforementioned reasons. Anything else?_

…One last thing. Given how I've known you for ten years, and these chats we keep having, I'm kinda surprised some card hasn't appeared saying that you're one of my Social Links.

…

Lyra laughed. Actually, 'laughter' wasn't quite the right word for it. A laugh implies some sort of warmth, or joy; even the laughter of the most homicidal maniacs tended to rejoice in the suffering of their victims. This, though… it felt completely empty. There was nothing there: no heart, no passion, no emotion. Nothing.

_Trust me, that's a good thing._

I shivered. This was more noteworthy as I had no body to shiver with.

_But anyway, you should probably be getting back to the real world, shouldn't you?_

Yes. Yes, that would be a good idea right now.

_I'll see you back in reality. Lyra out._

And then, I was falling through blackness.

* * *

"Urgh…"

My mind was slowly getting clearer. It felt like I'd been asleep for months.

Same bed, same ceiling. Three times I'd been hospitalised, and each time I woke up in the same room in the same way. How many more times would that happen?

_I predict at least four more times._

And of course, Lyra's also here. It was a rhetorical question, but I suppose you already knew that.

I looked around the room, and saw no-one. Huh.

…

Once again, I was being reminded of just how boring hospital was.

…

…

…

The monotony thankfully broke when the door opened, and with a rather large yawn, a tired-looking Yukari stepped in. That yawn was broken off halfway through and replaced with surprise when she realised that I'd woken up.

We held eye contact for a silent moment.

She rushed up to me and gave me a hug. "You're awake!"

I was all too aware of her presence. Her hair brushing against my face, her clothes against my skin… it was all almost intoxicating.

And then like a bucket of ice, I realised I was getting suffocated. "Can't… breathe…"

Yukari quickly backed off, and scratched her head apologetically. "Sorry… it's just that we were all so worried about you, and the doctors said it was actually kinda serious, and you might have died, and no-one knew when you were going to wake up…"

I tried to give a reassuring smile. "Don't worry that much. I survived getting my chest blown up by some sort of eldritch horror. I'm made up of stronger stuff."

She gave a small laugh. "I'm surprised you manage to joke about that."

I shrugged. "I used to burn things, and I probably still would if Mitsuru wasn't here."

Yukari shook her head. "Point taken."

I lost track of time as we continued to chat about things. Firstly, I'd been out for two days, and my cover story for this absence was that a large book had fallen off a shelf and hit me on the head. This, in conjunction with the earlier absences, had led to several rumours spreading about that how I had been cursed years earlier by a gypsy witch. Honestly, that was probably a better explanation for how I'd got these powers than anything else.

After that, conversation turned to more mundane matters. Yukari had a lot of gossip on hand, even if most of it was about people I didn't know. It was still enjoyable, though.

"Is that the time already?" Yukari had just looked up at the clock. "I told Mitsuru I'd be back at the dorm half an hour ago…" She slumped slightly and sighed. "Still, it's good to know you're safe. I haven't been able to concentrate on anything…"

I frowned. "What do you mean? Is something coming up?"

She stared at me for a moment, before laughing again. "You really don't pay attention to anything going on around you, do you?"

"Nope. So, what's going on?"

"If you'd looked at your calendar any time, you would have seen that midterms start in less than a week."

…This seemed bad. Lyra, you're going to need to help me cheat on these.

_You know what? I want to see how you fare by yourself, without my help, just this once. I'll be back next time, but for these midterms? You're on your own._

…I hate you again.

"Minato-kun…" Yukari waved her hand in front of my face. "You spaced out there for a moment. Are you alright?"

I blinked. "Um, yeah… just got taken unawares, that's all. I need to get studying." Damn you, Lyra. "Can I borrow your notes for all the stuff I missed?"

She smiled. "Sure…" Something lit up in her eyes. "Hey! Why don't we study together? We can probably get way more work done that way."

It was clear enough what her ploy was. "Sure. I think it should just be the two of us, though. More people would be distracting."

"Really? You think so too?" A brief look of euphoria passed across Yukari's face, before it was replaced with a sort of horrific realisation that her master plan went a little too well without any prior planning for this. It was beautiful. "Um, I just realised, if we're doing that, I… need to clean up my notes! And, get some new paper… alright? Get well soon, okay? See you back at the dorm!" With a final wave goodbye, she wheeled out of the room.

She really was cute when she was flustered.

* * *

Apparently, it's against hospital policy to let head trauma victims walk out whenever they want. As such, I had to wait for another pile of scans to show the all-clear (the doctors did say I had recovered remarkably quickly, even factoring in the pile of healing spells) before I was finally discharged the next evening.

I gritted my teeth and set straight for revision. I had no intention of tarnishing my academic record, even if it had mostly been obtained by cheating.

"What the hell is this about?"

That probably would have been easier if, you know. The subjects made sense.

Yukari looked over to the sheet I was holding. "Oh, I took those when the school nurse – you know him – covered for a lesson. I don't think anyone really got what he was talking about."

I thought back to the weird guy with the spectacles and labcoat and the issue of _Occult Monthly_, and looked back to the pile of notes on, of all things, the basics and history of magic. I was glad he wasn't insisting on continuously psychoanalysing me.

I read the notes over several times, copied them down, read over my copy, copied them down again, and then finally realised that absolutely nothing was sinking in. I let my head fall to the desk in frustration. "What else did I miss?"

* * *

"Minato-kun, can I check your notes on _Ugetsu Monogatari_? I think I might have missed something."

I blinked several times. "Trust me, you don't want to see my notes for that lecture."

She frowned. "But your pen was moving so fast…"

"Drawing out of boredom."

"Oh." She looked to be in thought. "Can I see what you drew?"

I grimaced. "Trust me, you don't want to."

"Come on. It can't be that bad."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please?"

"Seriously…" I slumped. "You're not going to give this up, are you?" She gave a playful nod, and I sighed, before digging out a sheet of paper and handing it over to her.

She took a good look at it. "…Wow." A brief silence fell. "You really don't like him, do you?"

"Given that I drew that, I'd say no."

"I don't get what some of these things are, though. What's this?"

I looked to where she was pointing. "That's his appendix."

"And this?" She indicated to something not far from the first thing.

"His pancreas."

"What about this, right next to it?"

I had to squint my eyes. What was it… "I've got it! That's his Islet of Langerhans!"

And thus we settled into an impromptu discussion about various interesting parts of human anatomy.

* * *

"Well, it's been two-and-a-half hours, but I finally think we've got these colours sorted! Good job, Minato-kun!"

Junpei leaned in over Yukari's shoulder. "Wait, didn't Ms. Ounishi say that Transition Metals wouldn't be on the test?"

The resulting scream managed to scare off the birds outside.

* * *

I sighed. "You know what? We've still got tomorrow evening and all of Sunday to revise. I say we should take this evening off."

Yukari gave a heavy gasp of relief. "Finally. I don't think I could look at another equation without throwing up. I'm going to bed." With that, she slowly trudged her way up the stairs.

I didn't quite feel like going to sleep yet, though. I was about to dig out my laptop and boot up Magic Online, before I remembered it was Friday. Friday Night Magic was definitely still a thing. I could go play in person.

Quickly checking for nearby stores and the like, I found that the nearest place for playing was a manga store called 'Book On'. I wrote down some directions, made my way there, bought some food along the way and arrived ten minutes before registration closed. I was the second-last person to sign up to draft that evening.

I have to say that I was somewhat surprised when a familiar brown-haired woman in a dark coat burst through the door ten minutes after me.

"Sorry I'm late," she panted. "I got caught up marking all the last-minute questions the pupils have been flooding me with and… Arisato-kun, is that you?"

I waved back. Yep, it really was my homeroom teacher. "Hello, Toriumi-sensei." That felt like the appropriate honorific.

She took a seat opposite me. "Good to see you. I didn't expect to see you here. Shouldn't you be studying or something?"

I shrugged. "After jumping straight into revision after coming out of hospital, I really felt I needed a break."

She smiled. "I get where you're coming from. This is a nice place to come to relax – the people are nice," she waved at some other people sitting around, "and you can always drop and read manga."

"It's good to have a familiar face here as well." Before I could say anything else, the organiser began calling out for the draft.

As things turned out, the draft went awfully. On the plus side…

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou art I… and I am thou…**_

The ninth Arcana: a large floating eye, hanging under a mysterious lamp.

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Hermit Arcana…**_

That happened. I made a mental note to come out more often.

* * *

More revision, more frustration, more screams.

And then it was time for midterms.

* * *

Overall, that went slightly better than expected. Good, but not exceptional.

Yukari was throttling Junpei over how one question in the chemistry exam had mentioned Iron, when my phone rang. "Hello?"

"Good evening," a catlike voice answered. "This is Elizabeth."

"…How did you get my number?"

She only answered that with a gentle laugh. "Could you come back to the Velvet Room? I have some things to address with you." She hung up without waiting for a reply.

Well, it didn't look like Yukari and Junpei would stop fighting any time soon, so I made my way over to the alley in Paulownia Mall.

She greeted me with a bright smile. "Welcome back, Minato-san. Please, take a seat."

I obliged. "Why did you ask me to come here?"

"In truth, I had a few more favours to ask of you. Do you remember those requests I gave you some time back?"

I scratched my head. "Yeah. Sorry that I haven't done most of them…"

"Do not worry." Her smile became more reassuring. "I do not intend on imposing any deadlines on these tasks for you. In fact, I have a gift for you."

Free stuff, eh? "What do you have?"

Something began twinkling in her eyes as she pulled a box from under the table. "I understand that you have encountered a roadblock of sorts in your explorations of Tartarus lately. While this may not remove it, it may restore enough confidence for you to face it head-on." She opened the box.

I couldn't quite believe what I saw. I may have started drooling slightly.

Some scaffolding, some fuel tanks and some pipes. As parts go, nothing special, but together, they were all you needed for a proper, military-grade flamethrower.

"How did you get this?"

Elizabeth gave a small laugh. "It was simple enough to buy one second-hand – I believe it was originally an American M9A1-7, if you're interested. It took some more effort tweaking it. Hopefully, it will be more upstanding of your expectations."

"Sweet." There was one issue, however. "How do I get it out of this room without getting arrested?"

"Remember, there is a door to this room in the lobby of Tartarus as well. I will look after it until you need it."

I nodded. "Thank you. Is there anything else?"

She began smiling again, and felt a faint sense of danger. "I have another request of you. Do you remember when we visited the mall outside this room?"

I struggled to hide a grimace. "How could I forget?"

"Wonderful! Then I will say it straight out: I wish to see more of the outside world."

She began staring at me with another puppy-like gaze, and again I found myself unable to say no. "Okay. Where to next? Iwatodai Station?"

"Well, I would like to see that place some day, but right now, I would like to see more of the realm directly outside. Specifically, could you take me to that 'club' of yours?"

A thousand alarm bells were ringing in my head. "Well, you see, maybe, um, um… okay. I'll take you. It has to be today, though. Tonight, I think they're open to students celebrating the end of midterms, and I doubt I can get in otherwise."

Elizabeth began positively beaming. "Really? Then let us depart, right now!"

She grabbed my arm and began wrenching me along like a piece of lumber. "Wait, Elizabeth, the club won't be open yet…"

"Then we have more time to sample the other delicacies of the outside world! First, I do wish to see what the big deal about a maid café really is…"

* * *

_**Thou art I… and I am thou…**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Sun Arcana…**_

The last thing I remember was walking into Club Escapade at around half-nine. Junpei found me an hour later in the alley outside the Velvet Room, with a traffic cone stuck on my head and some sort of blue scaly object tucked in my pocket. I repeatedly insisted that I'd had nothing to drink; Mitsuru later confirmed that the club had not sold any booze that night.

What happened in that time period would forever remain a mystery.

Anyway, the traffic cone was apparently too firmly wedged onto my head to remove it then and there, so Junpei had to lead me back to the dorm so we could cut it off.

"Don't move the knife. You're literally a millimetre from my right eye."

"Hey, is this your blood or mine?"

Eventually, Akihiko sacked Junpei for incompetence and began cutting it off himself.

At some point, Yukari came back to the dorm. "Hey, sempai! I heard you're fully healed… Minato-kun, is that you under there?"

I gave a thumbs up, not wanting to risk speaking. The knife was getting dangerously close to one of my lips.

Eventually, the traffic cone was safely removed. "Before you ask, no, I don't know how it got there."

That killed that line of questioning pretty efficiently, so Yukari turned back to her original line of questioning. "Akihiko-sempai, is your arm really better?"

He gave a light smirk and some air punches. "It sure is. I need to get back to training soon. I've slacked off for a whole month."

Yukari frowned. "Shouldn't you take it easy for a while? Do you want to reinjure it right now?"

"I've wasted enough time already. Are you still up for training, Minato?"

Honestly, I'd forgotten about that, but all my reasons for taking it up in the first place still held reasonably firm. "I sure am. School gym, right?"

He put on a wry smile. "I'll be waiting. Anyway, there's something else that I meant to tell you.

"We found another Persona user."

The three of us all bolted upright and started assaulting him with various questions. He merely raised his hand to calm us down. "I'll answer all your questions. Junpei?"

He let out a low whistle. "Sweet. Is it a girl?"

Yukari began muttering something under her breath, but Akihiko paid no notice. "Actually, she is. She's in our school. Fuuka Yamagishi, in class 2-E. Do you know her?"

Yukari shrugged. "Well, I know of her, but I've never talked to her or anything…"

"I have," I began. Yukari turned to look at me incredulously. "What? We go to the same club. How did you even find her, anyway?"

"While I was getting my last checkup, she was in the same hospital with a fever or something. I heard her turning around in her bed while I was taking a stretch in the Dark Hour."

"Fair enough," I conceded. "I can probably talk to her some more and try get her on board, if you need. From what I've seen, though, she seems quite sickly, and the other girls don't like her much. I'm not too sure if she'd be entirely cut out for facing Shadows."

The speed at which Akihiko deflated was remarkable. "Really? I mean, I thought this could happen, given her medical history and recorded absences and all, but seriously… I had an Evoker made for her and all…"

"We're giving up on her already?" Junpei interrupted. "And here I was, waiting to give her private lessons…"

Yukari arched an eyebrow. In that moment, it was as piercing and accusing as one of Mitsuru's death stares.

Junpei laughed nervously. "Heh… What do you expect? I'm a guy. A single guy! Come on!"

I cleared my throat to clear the air. "Well, even if she is too sickly, I still think that I'll talk to her. Better to have an option than none at all."

Junpei gave a whoop of excitement. "Go get her, man. Make sure not to get too close, though – you don't want Yuka-tan getting jealous now, do you? Just get in, win over her head…"

"And then I presume you sweep in and, in the traditionally clichéd way, win her heart?"

"Yeah, dude! Glad to see we're on the same page!"

Yukari facepalmed.


	14. Chapter 13

I rolled my eyes.

Earlier that day, the results for midterms had been posted. Somehow, I had managed to break into the top fifteen of the year.

Of course, that still didn't change how I was a complete pariah. Some things never change.

The club meeting had begun in the same way as always: arrive, get stared at, try to break the ice, get ostracised. No 'Great Job on the Exams!', no 'Congratulations!", nothing. They weren't even trying to hide it anymore. Honestly, I didn't know why I still tried to be friendly with the guys at my school.

I sighed and dug out the file Mitsuru had given me that morning. The request for information on Shadow classifications had intrigued her, but I got it in the end without too many questions. I hadn't had time to read it, but given that the girl I was looking for wasn't here yet, now was as good a time as any.

'Shadow Classifications: A key component of a Shadow is the mask-like object it possesses somewhere on its form. All Shadows have one of these, of one of twelve distinct types. Shadows with different masks act tend to act in different ways; as such, these masks can be used to classify Shadows into twelve distinct categories. These are labelled in accordance with the first twelve Major Arcana, from the Magician to the Hanged Man.'

I paused. Arcana. That again. Of all the things Personas and Shadows could have been linked with, why did it have to be Tarot Cards?

I took my annoyance out on a Basic Forest and turned the page.

'Shadow Arcana at a Glance: Sketches of the Twelve Types of Mask." Underneath were twelve small, yet detailed sketches of masks, some of which I recognised from exploring Tartarus.

I paused briefly as I looked over the second drawing. A pink and frilly mask, with _II_ engraved onto it. The High Priestess. I recognised it as the one that had been on the large Shadow, just before I'd had that… episode.

Something clicked in my mind. I recalled what the Priestess represented: Thought, Intution, that sort of thing. It linked very easily to something which seemed significant.

Foresight.

I felt I was connecting some dots there, but before I could think it through any more, the door opened, and a teal-haired girl walked in, holding some sort of box. "H-Hello everyone."

"Hey, Fuuka," Whatshisface (Kenji?) greeted her. "What's in the box?"

"Um..." she stammered. "I tried making cookies for everyone again."

It seemed the key words there were 'tried' and 'again'. Before she'd even finished speaking, everyone else began recoiling from the box in trepidation and horror.

Fuuka noticed. "No! Um, I mean, I'm sure it's not as bad as last time…"

Well, this could be where plan 'try to be friends with Fuuka' could start. "I'd love to try one."

The expression on everyone else's faces were plain enough to understand, but Fuuka began positively beaming. "Really? Th-thank you, Minato-san! Here, take this." She opened the box, and handed me a small brown circle of dough.

Immediately alarm bells began ringing. There was no way in hell that a cookie should smell of bleach.

Still, she was looking at me expectantly, and it was all for the sake of getting her to join a school club operating in a hidden twenty-fifth hour of the day. That risked getting hunted down by death itself any time it tried to do its normal operating facilities. Which happened to be in a giant hellish tower that would have probably warped the very room we were now standing in into a cross between an ink blot used for psychoanalysis and a cubist painting. Which was also filled with things that could syphon out your brain and reduce you to an empty husk of your former self if you were even slightly unprepared. In other words, it was definitely a good cause.

I took a bite, and started chewing.

I stopped chewing.

"Minato-san? Are you alright?"

I slowly got up, walked to the nearest bin, and threw up.

How could a cookie be caustic?

I spat and clawed at my tongue to try null some of the lingering burning sensation.

Water. I needed water.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Minato-san…"

I forced myself to smile. While part of me wanted nothing more than to rant at her until my throat bled, then ram the rest of those cookies down her throat and see how she liked it, I recognised that such an action would likely not be in my best interests. I needed to try have some patience. "It's fine, really. It was… a unique experience."

She continued staring at the floor, mumbling to herself. "Sorry… baking powder… ran out… lime…"

I swallowed. What I was about to do would probably shorten my lifespan considerably, but… "It's really fine, Fuuka-san. Look. You want to get better, right?"

She meekly nodded. "Yes, but…"

"Well, you can't improve without feedback. I'll test your cooking from now on, okay?"

Once again, the expressions on everyone else's faces were plain enough to understand.

Fuuka, though, was exuberant. "R-really? That's great, Minato-san! I'll make sure to bring something next time!"

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou art I… and I am thou…**_

A woman's head in profile. The second Arcana.

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Priestess Arcana…**_

* * *

"So, that was what happened," I told Akihiko.

He smirked. "Nice story and all, but did you really think that it would work as a distraction? There's still training to be done, you know."

I was in the school's gym, taking up Akihiko's offer of training. Given his boxing background and his assertion that I 'punch like an ass', I had assumed that my fists would have been an integral part of the regimen. Instead, I had spent the last half hour doing suicide runs (or whatever they were called) on a treadmill. My legs felt like they were bleeding. They probably were.

I grimaced. "Come on. Just another minute. Please?"

The situation could have been helped if Akihiko was a slightly more lenient taskmaster. "No. Diligence breeds cardio. Back on the treadmill."

"Urgh…" I made no effort to move.

"Don't be a baby. Junpei had more fight when he did this."

"But he actually does sports!"

Akihiko gave a piercing stare. It may not have been as piercing as one of Mitsuru's, but it was enough. Reluctantly, I forced myself to climb back on and run for another five-minute burst.

And then another one.

And then another.

And then eight more.

No mercy, no respite. By the end of it, I wasn't sure if my legs were still there, or if I was just feeling that ghost-limb sensation that some amputees get. I collapsed on the floor.

"Why…" I wheezed. "Why… do I… have to… do… this…?"

Akihiko smirked again. "Come on. You have to feel good, working up a sweat like that."

"No. Absolutely no way."

He shook his head. "Suit yourself. Admit it, though, that after you've done this a couple of times, you could last a lot longer against Shadows. Tartarus is a marathon, not a sprint."

Reluctantly, I had to concede him that point. "It was the first time, though. Couldn't you have just gone a bit easier?"

"If you want to try get the most out of going it alone, feel free. Just don't expect anything too great. If you're working with me, then you still have to follow my rules."

"Come on! Be merciful or something! I don't care if you double the intensity of everything else, just give me a bit of a warm-in period or something!"

"No can do. Life isn't fair like that."

Urgh. "Of course life isn't fair. My parents are dead, and… Akihiko? Hello?" I spoke, before realising that he had zoned out completely, and was now staring blankly into distance. Gently, he began mumbling.

"Life isn't fair… I need to get stronger. If I don't… I can't save anything. Stronger… stronger…"

Still not quite ready to get off the floor and unsure of the correct course of action, I put a (hopefully reassuring) hand on his ankle, and gave a gentle squeeze.

He quickly snapped back into reality, and took a moment to shake his head clear and fully regain his senses. "Sorry, I zoned out there. Now where were we?"

Burdens. Everyone had their own burdens, and for a moment, I thought I saw some of Akihiko's.

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Emperor Arcana…**_

A gentle knock on the window caught Akihiko's attention, and I twisted my neck to see a girl with a long black ponytail, wearing the school tracksuit, standing a few feet away. "Akihiko-sempai…" she began. "Are you done here?"

He turned to her. "Hey, Rio. Didn't see you there. Just putting the rookie through the paces. We're done here."

I forced myself back to my feet. "Really? Does that mean that I can go?"

He replied with a surprisingly sinister laugh. "I said we're done _here_. Oh, we're going to do more than just run every day. Now, we move onto strength training."

Not quite sure how to react to the promise of more pain, I collapsed back onto the floor. This week was proving to be a bigger trial that I had anticipated.

Akihiko settled for dragging me to the weights room. As I passed by, I thought I saw something that looked like pity flash in the girl's eyes, before I was thrown onto a bench press machine. "Twelve reps, now."

* * *

"What happened to you, Minato-san?"

"Pain. So much pain."

Through some miraculous artifice, I had survived Day One of Akihiko's Extreme Ultra-Pain Pro (TM) training regimen. The reward? Taste testing Fuuka's next batch of cookies.

_You know, since you're actually bothering to go along with this, you really have to have some sort of residual self-hatred buried deep within. Why else would you be seeking such things?_

Shut up, Lyra. And anyway, why are you only bothering to make some smart-alecky comment now?

_Meh. I've set you on your path, and I'll let you walk it. I'll help you if I need to, but mostly I've run out of interesting comments to add. Most situations here explain themselves. I'll still be here, just don't expect me to talk randomly as often._

Good. At least that means I won't have to ask you to shut up so much.

_You're welcome._

Shut up, Lyra.

"Are you sure you're alright, Minato-san?"

I shook my head clear. Fuuka had found me outside her classroom, presented a box of cookies, and quickly roped me onto the school roof. I braced myself for the almost-inevitable.

"I'm fine, really. Bring on the food."

She smiled. "Okay, here goes… oh, a cat!"

Indeed, a small cat had somehow managed to make its way onto the school roof. Fuuka had already run over and started petting it, chirping about its cuteness.

Something came into my head. It might have constituted animal cruelty, but… "I think the cat looks hungry."

Fuuka furrowed her brow, before patting the cat down. She gasped slightly. "You're right. Feel how thin she is! Come on. Here."

She pulled a cookie from the box, crumbled it, and put her hand out for the cat.

It took two bites before hissing aggressively and dashing off.

Fuuka looked stunned. "Was it… the food?"

I took the box she'd brought, took out a cookie, and took a bite.

…

At the very least, this one wasn't caustic.

It still wasn't edible, though. I quickly spat it out. "Yes. I'm sorry, but it was."

Fuuka's eyes fell. "No, I'm the one who should be sorry… I'm hopeless, aren't I? I just wanted to do something nice for everyone…"

Okay. Time for the white knight act. "Look, I'll help. The school has a home economics room, doesn't it?"

Her eyes widened slightly. "You're right! It should be open now. I'll show you what I did, then maybe you can tell me what I did wrong."

* * *

"You need to sift the flour first."

"Huh? Oh, okay." She dug out a sieve, and prepared a bag of white powder.

I stopped her. "That's sugar, not flour."

"Oops! Sorry." She put the sugar down and picked up another bag.

"That one's salt."

She blushed slightly, before heading to the cupboards and getting a third bag.

I facepalmed, and started muttering under my breath. "Just… stop. That one's washing powder."

Her face fell, and she started staring at the floor. "Oh… Don't be mad, Minato-san… I'm sorry…"

Breathe, Minato. Breathe. "It's… okay. Just… read the labels, and take your time. Don't rush."

Thankfully, at the fourth time of asking, she found the flour.

The rest of the cooking process was similar, barring one exceptionally unusual request from Fuuka that, for a brief moment, had me at a complete loss for words.

"…No, squid ink will not add 'depth' to your cookies."

Finally, the dough was prepared without incident. We cut out some geometrical shapes, arranged them neatly on a baking tray, before coming to a dreadful realisation.

The oven in the room was broken.

* * *

In retrospect, trying to use a makeshift flamethrower as a substitute was a stupid idea.

The fire brigade was quickly putting down the last traces of the fire. The police were combing through the wreckage of the home economics room, as well as taking statements from everyone who'd been around. In the corner, a blond foreign exchange student was crying over his destroyed works (who puts a sewing room and a kitchen together anyway?), occasionally shooting me a piercing glance. If that ever could have been a bond, I guessed it would now be forever broken.

Since everyone had agreed it was an accident, and no-one had been injured significantly, the police decided to do nothing. Since it the staff also agreed that it was completely my fault, they decided to leave further punishment to Mitsuru, when I got back to the dorm.

"I'm sorry for ruining your first batch of good dough."

Fuuka smiled. "Don't worry. Without you, it never would have turned out this way in the first place."

I chuckled. "No bad blood, then?"

"None at all. Will you help me again some time?"

I nodded. "Sure."

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Priestess Arcana…**_

Become friends first. Bring up the issue of SEES later.

* * *

You know, getting executed for the second time isn't anywhere near as bad as the first. Of course, there's still the cold and the pain and the massive lingering psychological trauma, but you can always just about brace yourself for all that stuff. Besides, on the second time around, you can appreciate the use of the oysters and other components more, although 'appreciate' might not be the right word.

_Are you talking to me?_

I have no idea.

Anyway, I survived without completely imploding, and managed to go to school the next day.

"If you weren't here last lesson, I'm Mr. Edogawa, and I'm in charge of integrative learning."

Of course, if I had known what lectures would have been awaiting me, I might have rethought that decision.

"Kekeke… Since all your results on the test were so bad, we'll start with that lecture again! Let your worries be soothed. This will be psychotherapy through magic!"

This guy was definitely insane. How did he have a doctorate?

"Silence! No talking! Let us return to the basics of magic. You may think that magic will let you do anything. Winning acclaim, crushing your enemies… if these things lie in your heart, then you will never learn magic. The wicked of heart will always be driven to ruin, if they hold power at all."

What was the point of all this? With very second that he kept on talking, I felt could feel actual useful information falling out of my brain.

"You must also remember this: aspire to your masters, especially with difficult magicks. When training, you will have to unite the reality of life with the darkness of the spirits. If you cannot balance these opposites, you will forever be lost. That is why the presence of a master is so important! Take forth their tactics, so as to never lose yourself to the darkness!"

Screw this. There was no point in listening any more. I closed my eyes, and fell asleep.

* * *

Some people liked bookstores because they were vast depositories for the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of ages.

I liked them because they were filled of flammable stuff.

Unfortunately, that was not on the agenda today. Instead, after testing another inedible batch of cookies for Fuuka, I had insisted she buy an actual book of recipes, and this was her favourite bookshop.

Not that I saw why she liked it. It was dark, it was claustrophobic, the books were arranged in stacks so haphazard that it was amazing how they didn't collapse instantly, and I found the storekeepers a bit too smothery for my liking. I made a mental note to limit my visits here in the future.

A yelp rang out, and I heard the distinct sound of a giant stack of books collapsing. Only one arm stuck out of the resulting pile. I sighed and set to excavation.

"Are you alright?"

"Um… yes, Minato-san," Fuuka mumbled. "Thank you. I found something. Um… do you mind getting it? I feel like I need some air."

I tried to give a reassuring smile. "Sure. All those books did just fall on you."

Fuuka staggered to her feet, handed me the book, and hobbled out.

I took a glance at what she'd picked. 'Baking for Grandmasters'. Well, at least she had ambition.

The book was surprisingly cheap – everything was, as all the books here were secondhand. I was paying up, when I heard a commotion outside.

"Quit bothering me! Leave me alone!" That voice seemed familiar…

"I can't!" That voice was definitely familiar. "They say there's all sorts of scary people there! I don't want you going to places like that…"

I mentally swore and rushed outside to see what Fuuka had gotten herself into.

There was a standoff outside, and the passersby had given the two girls a wide berth. One of them was Fuuka. The other was the head vulture, from that time outside the club room.

Vulture was shouting. "Where I go is none of your business! Why should you care?"

"I have to care! We're friends!"

That was debatable, but things were rapidly heating up. Waiting to see how things turned out was an option, but…

"God, you're so annoying! What is it with you?!"

A hand lashed out. A slap was heard. Fuuka stumbled to the ground.

That wasn't an option any more.

"I only hang around with you to mess with you…" Something which looked like guilt appeared on her face, but I ignored it. "Seriously, stop pretending we're friends… you again?" So she finally noticed me. "What do you want?"

I didn't deign to answer her question with words. Instead, I raised a fist and smashed her in her stupid face.

To her credit, I had expected her to collapse instantly. She took the punch remarkably well, only letting out a garbled scream before she ran off. Alternatively, it could just have been that I really did punch like an ass.

I turned back to Fuuka. She had already got back up. "Are you alright?"

She stared at me in a sort of disbelief. "What did you just do?"

"I punched her."

"I saw that! Why did you punch her?" She snapped. The warmness from earlier meetings had quickly been replaced by more than a hint of distrust.

I tried to sound rational. "She slapped you. It felt appropriate."

Fuuka's voice began to creep upwards, and a whole new side to her began to leak out. "That's not right! Even if she hits me, that doesn't give you the right to punch her!"

I let out an annoyed sigh. "You're really defending her? After all the times she's targeted you, harassed you, kicked you while you're down, and generally ripped the shit out of you?"

"She's not like that! You don't know her at all!" Great. This was beginning to look like Stockholm Syndrome. "She's my friend!"

"Oh, you really think someone like that's a 'friend'?" I spat out. Really, how could she be so naïve?

Her voice was reaching a fever pitch, and people were hurrying by to avoid the conflict. "We've always been friends! It's been my own fault that she's mad at me. I didn't give any thought to her feelings and said some insensitive things. I always wanted to apologise to her, but I never found the words. And now, with what you've done, she might ever forgive me at all!"

"Trust me, with someone like that, it's better that you have nothing to do with them! That's the truth!"

"That's where you're wrong!" Fuuka was screaming at this point. "She's my precious friend, and that's why I have to care about her! And if that's how you really feel, I don't want to have anything to do with you!"

Before I could say anything else, a hand lashed out, and a slap was heard.

She ran straight past me, calling out that girl's name, leaving me grinding my teeth, with a bruise growing on my cheek and a bitter taste in my mouth.

Time stopped.

A completely new sound, sort of like twisting metal, an echoing _**Vworrp**_, filled my mind.

_**The gift I have given hath been squandered…**_

The Priestess card that had first appeared just a few days earlier appeared again. This time, it slowly turned until the image was upside-down, before disappearing.

_**Thou hast reversed the Priestess Arcana…**_

Time started again.

_To let you know, I am applauding slowly at this very instant._

Great. Just great.

Someone behind me laughed, and a hand grasped my shoulder. "You've finally seen it, haven't you? Women are crazy."

I didn't bother respond. There wasn't any point.

The stranger gave a sigh. Without saying another world, he shoved a box of takoyaki into my hands, turned around and left.

For a while, I continued to stand there.

I finally tilted my head back and let out a primal roar of frustration.


	15. Chapter 14

Tartarus burned.

"Dude, aren't you worried about Death or whatever?"

That didn't matter. Whatever that thing was, it could shoot itself in the sack it had for a face for all I cared. Right now, all that mattered was destroying as much stuff as possible, by fire and flame.

"Arisato, I must enquire where you obtained that flamethrower from."

I bit back a manic laugh as I pulled the trigger again, and another Shadow turned to choking ash. Sure, I could tell them that an eccentric lady in an elevator gave it to me for this express purpose, but that would just confuse them unnecessarily. What was more important, though, were the few words that Elizabeth had said to me.

"Now, before you take this with you, you should note that this has undergone several extensive modifications, mostly concerning the fuel tanks. The main advantage of these modifications is to increase the burn time such that it becomes practical to use in an extended tower crawl. While I have tested this time to be at least two minutes, I cannot give an exact measure, as another consequence of those modifications is that the weapon will suddenly detonate should fuel run out, resulting in a very large and violent explosion which is likely to kill or otherwise severely maim you and anyone standing within about twenty feet. When the time does come to refuel, you should add a one-to-one-to-seventeen mixture of 99-octane rating petrol, your favourite type of sake – provided the alcohol content is at least eighty-seven percent – and napalm. Have fun!"

The explosion issue was rather large, to say the least. While the petrol would be easy enough to get, and I could probably find someone who knows someone who knows someone to get me the sake, napalm seemed like it would be difficult to find. I wondered how angry Mitsuru and the school would be if I tried to make it in the chemistry labs.

Then again, all that thought could wait for later. Tonight, Tartarus burned.

The rest of SEES had taken some nights out to explore without me, which was fair enough. As such, they'd reached a point where the décor had changed for one reason or another. The overall colour scheme was now largely bluish, with all sorts of fancy patterns and stonework painfully etched onto the floor and walls, to give the overall impression not dissimilar to a gothic mansion.

Still, the Shadows burned all the same.

_You're more fun while you're on the point of psychosis, you know? You should go half-crazy more often. It would liven the place up some more._

And of course, you're still here. Really, I have no idea what you want to do with me most of the time. Do you want me to go completely crazy, or actually work with people? I'm getting mixed signals here.

She laughed. _Don't worry about all that. My main goal is to get you to the end of all this, and then see what happens. Doesn't mean I don't get bored, or change my view on things. I strive to be as chaotic as possible whilst still having a consistent personality._

Great. I don't know why I asked.

With another jolt of fire, a towering wheel-like Shadow caught ablaze, and soon reduced to little more than dust to be scattered. I let a cathartic smile creep across my face. From behind me, Junpei and Yukari looked around somewhat nervously, while Akihiko just stood there, almost studious.

I ignored them as another set of cards appeared. I picked at random. Jack Frost. Magician. I could deal with it later. Right now, burn.

The next floor was one of those ones with a large clearing. Mitsuru had said that they'd encountered two more of these floors, both with teleporters: one at the end of the greenish place (henceforth called 'Thebel' for administrative purposes), the other reasonably near the start of the bluish place (henceforth 'Arqa'). Both had also had bigger Shadows blocking the way. This one probably would as well. It felt like a good opportunity to fully test this new flamethrower.

Akihiko quickly activated the teleporter. Wordlessly, I stalked forward.

My quarry was right there, seemingly waiting. A looming statue, almost placid in appearance, wearing a mask of the Empress.

Its end was nigh.

I stopped a good forty feet from the Shadow, before pulling the trigger. A cone of greasy flame burst out of the end and swiftly engulfed the statue. It was reassuring to know that its range was still effective.

I held down the trigger.

One. Two. Three…

I counted up to twenty-six before I got bored, and stopped firing to check my handiwork.

…Huh. I actually set fire to stone. This flamethrower was awesome.

The statue stood there, stoic as ever, before finally giving in and succumbing to the fire.

I started whistling as I hopped over the charred lumps of rubble. Everyone else followed with caution. They probably weren't sure whether the Shadows were more dangerous than I was at that moment.

Unfortunately, the next few floors seemed largely devoid of Shadows, which limited the amount of burning possible. Several flights of stairs later, we reached a large gate. It seemed to be locked, and no amount of shunting, tugging, kicking, punching, poking with an arrow, slashing with a sword or attempting to set on fire could open it.

"Looks like a dead end," Junpei began. "There's an access point here, though. Should we go back?"

I warped down, walked to the teleporter, and warped straight back up.

Walk. See. Point. Pull. Burn.

Somewhere behind me, there were faint footsteps. I ignored them.

The floors blurred together. Did it matter what or where they were? As long as they burned, it was still the same.

More floors passed, and more Shadows burned.

_I should remind you…_

Shut up. Death's not here. Go away.

Another clump of Shadows. I pointed and pulled. The flame lurched to life, and quickly drowned the Shadows.

Then it seemed to stutter slightly, before petering out.

The words 'Oh Shit' had barely entered my mind before everything exploded. Fire and metal and burning was everywhere OH GOD THE PAIN.

There are many sights and sensation in the world which are difficult to describe. Being on fire is one of them.

_You could have just listened to me for half a second, but no, you had to go burn more crap. And now this happened. Isn't it wonderful?_

Shut up. I'm kind of dying over here, and I don't see you helping.

_Oh, I will. This is just charred flesh and some lung damage. Mostly. I can deal with this occasionally. Just don't do it too often. I'd like to keep my presence somewhat concealed from certain beings._

Idontcareaboutthatjustputoutthefirealready

_As I said, I will. I just want to see you suffer a bit first. It is amusing, and I feel like this could be a semiprecious lesson for you to learn._

I think I started screaming louder, but it was difficult to tell, especially with all the air getting sucked out of my lungs. I am sure that someone did start screaming behind me at around this point. I collapsed shortly afterwards.

And then, just as consciousness began to fade, I felt… something. For lack of better description, it was that wrongness, from that first trip into this tower, however long ago it now was. From the same core, it began writhing and spreading, and soon it almost felt like it was oozing out of my skin and consuming me.

And like it had arrived, it had gone. So had the pain. I was there, lying on the floor, breathing slowly. Was I alive? Was this what death felt like?

"Minato-kun!"

Footsteps. I turned my head. A brunette, disbelief in her eyes, panicked and on the verge of tears. "You're… you're…" She wrapped tightly around me, and didn't show any inclination of letting go.

Another person, and a smirk. "I don't know how, but you're alive. Can you walk?"

I thought, and shook my head.

"Come on, then. Junpei, help me get him up."

Two pairs of footsteps. One pair of arms reluctantly retreating, two more approaching. Slowly, I got to my feet.

"Take it slow, dude. I don't know what happened, but you're alive."

"Y-yeah. Th-that's great… please don't scare us like that again…"

"I have to say, though, you've got… wait. Does anyone else hear that?"

We all stopped. From somewhere in the distance rattled the deathly clang of icy chains. We all stood there for a moment, petrified.

I broke the silence. "This feels like a good time to leave."

I felt three pairs of eyes staring at me, mostly because that was the first thing I had said since entering the tower. Then they realised I had a very good point, and quickly hobbled away with me in tow.

* * *

It was very good luck that the access point was only about twenty yards from where I'd been set on fire. None of us had been eaten by death. We were all relieved when we crumpled back down in Tartarus.

Junpei gave a relieved sigh. "That was a close one. And good to see you haven't swallowed your tongue."

I felt the need to speak, but had no idea for a sensible reply. "No comment."

"It is reassuring to see you in one piece, Arisato," Mitsuru spoke. "However, there are several issues here. Most importantly, after what happened, how did you survive?"

"Lyra." There was no point lying about it.

"I… see." She frowned and looked off into the distance, as if in thought. "I suppose further questioning along that will be fruitless. Now, almost as importantly, how did you obtain the flamethrower?"

"It was a gift."

She blinked. "A gift." She stared at me blankly, before shaking her head. "I don't suppose you could tell me who gave you the gift?"

"An eccentric lady in an elevator." The truth is often more confusing than deception.

Mitsuru blinked a few more times, before flicking a wrist dismissively. "Forget it. I believe this is an appropriate time to cease exploration for the night."

"Actually…" That brief exchange of words had brought Elizabeth back into my mind. "Give me a moment." I quickly hauled myself to my feet and headed through the purple door.

As expected, Elizabeth was there, grinning wildly. "Good evening, Minato-san. I see you were involved in an incident with that flamethrower. Let me reassure you, it was a most amusing sight for those of us whom that sort of spectacle enlightens."

"Right. Anyway, given that it exploded, do you have any spares lying about?"

She chuckled. "My, my. Getting straight to the point, are we? Unfortunately, there are no unmodified flamethrowers left, and a standard one would not befit your combat style. I can commission a new one to be made, but it will take a good two weeks before my… 'associates' have all the parts readied and assembled. In the meantime, I recommend you learn the intricacies of making that fuel I mentioned."

I briefly contemplated asking about her associates, before concluding that I didn't want to know. "Thank you, Elizabeth. I'll see you then."

* * *

I didn't have a great night's sleep. I kept dreaming about being on fire over and over and over, and just as the flames died down slightly, they burst into life again. By the end, my bedsheets were soaked in sweat. I eventually gave up on proper sleep, woke up early and savoured the early morning air with a slow walk to school.

Surprisingly, Junpei caught up with me halfway. I raised an eyebrow at his approach. "You're up early."

He chuckled, breathing deeply as he slowed up. He'd been jogging. "Same goes for you."

I shrugged. "I couldn't sleep. Being on fire tends to give you nightmares. What about you?"

"Heh. A little bird told me you and Akihiko were doing some extra training. I thought I'd do some of my own."

I continued to stare incredulously. "If that's the case, shouldn't you still be jogging?"

"Hah!" He snapped his fingers. "And deprive you of my glorious presence? Nay, for I, Junpei Iori, am a far better man than that!"

"Hey, I'm meant to be the sarcastic one."

"Yes, but all your sarcasm is kinda cold and subversive. You should try going over the top for once."

"Nah. I'd rather not get killed by German machine guns." I sighed when I realised that he'd completely failed to understand the pun. "It was a World War One joke."

…Ikutsuki would have said that it went 'over the top' of his head, wouldn't he?

I made a mental note to bleach my brain of that comment later.

"And that's exactly the type of thing I'm talking about," Junpei concluded. "Still, it's good to see you back to your normal self. Tell me, what happened yesterday?"

I grimaced. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Come on. You can tell your old pal Junpei anything."

"I said, I'd rather not talk about it."

"And I'd rather you did."

I facepalmed. "You know, you're about as persistent as Yukari when it comes to pestering me for information."

He grinned. "I'd like to think I'm more effective than her. After all, I can't threaten to withhold sex."

If I had been drinking anything at that moment, I would have choked or done a spit-take. Or both. "Wh- where did that come from?" I forced out. "I mean… she's… we're… slowly…"

Junpei tapped his nose, almost knowingly. "Oh, don't worry. I get it. It just makes the threat of withdrawal more effective, doesn't it? Now, tell me. What happened yesterday?"

Completely off balance, I ended up just telling him. "Remember how Akihiko mentioned that girl – Fuuka Yamagishi – as a potential recruit, and I tried to talk to her?"

"Of course."

"Well, it failed. Miserably." At Junpei's insistence, I elaborated. "To summarise, Fuuka was being aggressively harassed by other girls – no, Junpei, I don't mean that type of harassment – anyway, despite this, Fuuka seemed to have some sort of relationship – again, Junpei not that type of relationship – with one of those girls, kinda like Stockholm Syndrome. I walked into the two of them having an argument – they were arguing about something the girl was doing and if it was dangerous, but I didn't catch all of it – she slapped Fuuka, I punched her in the face – honestly, it actually felt good to punch someone in the face like that – she ran off, Fuuka shouted at me, slapped me in the face and ran off. Oh, and some crazy guy gave me a box of takoyaki. Yes, it was good takoyaki, but that doesn't exactly seem relevant."

After I finished talking, we walked for a few minutes in silence, while Junpei seemed to be deep in thought. Finally, he spoke. "At risk of getting punched in the face here, I'm going to say that I think you could have handled it better."

I stopped in my tracks, turned to him, and glared. "Explain."

Junpei swallowed. "Alright… first, I'm guessing that you and Fuuka hung out to a degree before yesterday, am I right?" He continued when I nodded. "Well, that shows you the first thing. Given your reputation and the variety of rumours going around about you, I doubt that many other students would have risked doing that. What does that show?"

"She's desperate for friends?"

"No! Well, actually, maybe, but that might play into this. No, it shows that she's an inherently nice person. I mean, she wants to give people a chance before she judges them. At least, I think that's what it means."

Well, given her last words to me, that felt like it could be true. Still… "Your point is…?"

"Don't you see? That's the exact same situation as with the other girl! What was her name, anyway?"

"No clue. I always called her Vulture in my head."

"Huh. Well, anyway, Fuuka must also believe that this Vulture also has the capacity to be a good person! That's why Fuuka was asking about the danger of whatever it was she was doing! She was concerned, and really did care about her safety, as she didn't want such a potentially bright light to fade. Or something like that."

I mulled it over in my head. "That seems… plausible, I admit. Fuuka did call her 'her precious friend', despite all that she'd done."

"Exactly. And when you punched her in the face…"

"She probably thought I was kind of a dick."

"Yep. All of this is down to your lack of comprehension. The truth comes out, thanks to Junpei Iori, Ace Detective!"

"…Don't ever call yourself that again."

He scratched his head. "Hey, I get engaged when solving mysteries, alright?"

I sighed. "It wasn't a mystery. I should probably find Fuuka and apologise to her, shouldn't I?"

"You don't need an Ace Detective to answer that question."

I punched him in the face. "I told you to stop calling yourself that."

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Magician Arcana…**_

We continued making small talk and carelessly bantering all the way to the school gates, right up to the point where we saw the body.

* * *

For a moment, we were both stunned to silence.

Junpei was the first to speak. "Is that what I think it is?"

In the dirt and gravel sprawled in front of the school gates, was the prone form of a girl, staring blankly into the sky.

_Supine._

What?

_She's on her back. That's supine. Prone is when you're lying on your face._

Really? Of all the things you could've commented on, it's that?

Lyra didn't bother make a reply.

Almost involuntarily, a wave of nervous laughter came from Junpei's throat. "Eheheh… is she… dead?"

Okay, Minato. You can do this. Stay calm. Don't panic. Walk up, slowly. Talk. "Are you alright?" No response. Shake her. Poke her a few times. Still nothing.

Check breathing. Shallow, almost hollow, but there. Pulse. Weak, but there. "She's alive, but unconscious."

Junpei let out a half-relieved sigh. "Okay. That's… good? What do we do now?"

"Erm… I have no idea."

We stared at each other in silence.

* * *

After what felt like an hour but Lyra reassured me was two minutes and sixteen point four eight nought seconds (to the nearest millisecond – I have no idea why that level of accuracy was needed), a teacher turned up. He had the common sense to call for the police and an ambulance.

The subject of the rumour mill was obvious that day. I avoided everyone. I had no wish to deal with questions concerning what I'd saw, and I had no idea what would get stirred up if everyone realised that we were the first to find the body.

With that said, Junpei still came up to me. "No-one seems to think we're involved, so that's good."

"Tell me about it. I don't want to get incriminated for attempted murder or anything. What else is going around?"

Junpei scratched his head. "That's the weird thing. Nothing. The other students who saw her – y'know, before the ambulance came – said they didn't see any external injuries, and someone just rushed to the hospital to learn that there wasn't anything bad on the inside either. She's still unconscious, though. They think it might be exhaustion, but they don't know. It's a complete mystery. A mystery, suitable for Junpei Iori, Ace Detective!"

I groaned. "The next time you call yourself that, I will set you on fire."

"Besides, an Ace Detective?" Yukari added. "More like Ace Defective."

"Thank you, Yukari. See, someone agrees with me." A small flag raised in my brain. "Wait, when did you get here?"

"About ten seconds ago. Why?"

"Just wondering." She wouldn't have heard anything. "Where've you been, anyway?"

"I was following up on the rumours as well." She pulled up a chair next to me. "That girl they found? I saw her yesterday, when she was coming back from archery practice. She was fine then. I don't know what could have happened in one night…"

"Hmm…" Junpei pondered. "I would suggest drugs or something, but we already know there was nothing wrong inside…"

"Maybe we need some more context about the victim. What else do you know about her?"

"Huh?" Yukari looked completely lost for a moment. "Not much. She wasn't athletic or anything, she just hung about the sports buildings with loads of other girls. I think her name was… Maki? They were all on first-name bases with each other. And they all kept talking about all the things they did to various other girls. I mean, I never bothered listen to them, but some of it seemed quite dark…"

Other girls? "Did you ever hear the name Fuuka Yamagishi mentioned in those conversations?"

"Wait, you mean the girl Akihiko mentioned? Wait… actually, that name cropped up a lot of the time. Was she one of their victims?"

"Almost certainly." A vulture. That made me feel less sympathetic towards her already.

It also reminded me that I still needed to say sorry to Fuuka. As Junpei had pointed out, I had been somewhat of a dick, and I wanted to patch that up as quickly as possible – I had no idea what a reversed social link entailed, and I didn't really want to find out. "I need to quickly see to something. I'll be back in a couple of minutes." They both seemed surprised at the abruptness of my departure, but they let me go without more questions.

Like that unconscious girl, Fuuka was in 2-E. I smoothed out my hair as I knocked on the door. A girl with a black ponytail answered. "Can I help you?"

I gently cleared my throat. "Is Fuuka Yamagishi in? I need to talk to her."

She shook her head. "Sorry, but she's ill today. Her parents said she might be away for some time. When she gets back, I'll tell her you were looking for her."

That was moderately annoying, but there was nothing to be done. There was nothing else to do but wait. "Thank you for your time."

I was about to turn and leave, when she started speaking again. "You were the one in the gym with Akihiko-sempai, weren't you?"

"Yes…" I tilted my head slightly. I hadn't recognised her without the tracksuit, but she was the girl from before in the gym. "He called you… Rio, right?"

She smiled. "I'm surprised you remembered that throwaway comment. Yeah, I'm Rio Iwasaki. Pleased to meet you. And don't worry, half of all people who try train with Akihiko give up in less than a week, and I don't think anyone's lasted more than four. Don't worry about it." She stuck out a hand.

I took it. "Minato Arisato, but you probably knew that already."

"You burn stuff? Don't worry. Some of my best friends are kind of idiots." I declined to point out the backhandedness of that comment. "Anyway, you don't have to do Akihiko's workouts. The gym's open every day – well, except for before exams – and it's usually pretty empty, so you can just go up and work out by yourself."

I had to admit, that seemed like a good option. Increased fitness would be useful – I needed to become fitter so Akihiko's regimens wouldn't kill me, so I could become even fitter for Tartarus – and this seemed like an easy option. There was one slight issue in my mind, though: "I'm not a fitness expert, but isn't training more effective when you have a partner?"

Rio shrugged. "Honestly, I think all you need is determination to succeed. If you want some company, though, you could probably always ask Akihiko-sempai."

"Erm… no." I was not ready for that can of worms yet.

She shifted about slightly, almost hesistant. "Well… the only other person who's in even semi-regularly is me. I'm in on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I guess you could come along then?"

Yeah, it was obvious that while she wanted to be a friendly and helpful, she wasn't entirely sold on the idea of me being a constant presence around her. "Thanks for the information. I might go if I feel like it."

Rio gave a final nod before turning back into her homeroom.

_**Crack.**_

Look, time's stopped again. What is it this time?

_**Thou art I… and I am thou…**_

The card that appeared depicted some sort of man in a helmet on a cart being pulled by two lions. Or something like that – the art filled most of the card, and some of the details were difficult to make out. What was clear was the _VII _written underneath.

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Chariot Arcana…**_

Well, that had kinda come out of nowhere. Not that I was complaining; it had made the journey out of homeroom more worthwhile. With nothing else to do, I headed back to Junpei and Yukari. Lunchtime ended soon after.

* * *

The rest of the day was spent inanely, filled with the same old empty rumours going on and on and on. It was a madman. No, it was a pervert. No, it was a ghost. No, it was the blue-haired transfer student in 2-F. No, it was all part of a conspiracy involving the school getting infiltrated by demons (there were demons everywhere). Thinking about them made my brain hurt too much, so I stopped thinking.

Then it was Sunday. Absolutely nothing of interest happened.

Monday was similarly uninteresting, though Mitsuru did comment that there seemed to be something in the air. My mind zoned out so completely, that I was walking up the front steps to the dorm before I remembered that I could have gone to the gym for training. Oh well.

I ended up grinding on Magic Online for a few hours, got hungry, and went to get some takoyaki for simplicity. By the time I got back, so had everyone else.

I walked into the four of them, seated around the dining table, apparently in some sort of meeting. Mitsuru was gently stirring a cup of tea, Akihiko was eating his way through a super-economy-sized pot of ramen, Junpei had a wicked grin plastered on his face and Yukari seemed to be in a mild state of shock. "…Nobody believes that stuff! Right? …Right?" she flustered.

"Junpei, what have you done?" I asked, flicking the last piece of takoyaki into my mouth.

"Hey!" He raised his arms in protest. "Why do you automatically assume it was me?"

"Well, then. Who was it?"

"It was…" His voice trailed off. "Point taken. Anyway, we were just talking about that girl by the front gates. You know that there's a rumour that it's some angry spirit from this famous ghost story, right?"

I took a seat. "I knew there were ones about ghosts. I zoned out before listening to them all, though. They were all kinda derivative and boring. I preferred the ones saying that it was due to a botched job by a legion of shifty-looking space cows that stole money from your wallets while you weren't looking."

"Come on. Next you be telling me you believe the one that she tried drinking super-diseased blood to gain superpowers."

"I didn't say I believed them. I just found them more interesting."

"Anyway…" Mitsuru took a sip of her tea. "I must admit, this ghost story that Iori speaks of does intrigue me. Would you care to elaborate?"

"What?!" Yukari immediately went pale. "It- It's all made up, right?! So, I mean, why bother?"

Akihiko finished his noodles and opened up a protein bar. "I'm also interested."

Yukari's eyes widened, and she went even paler. Her mouth began moving up and down without speaking, eventually forcing out a single, weak "…but…"

"Yukari, are you afraid of ghosts?" I asked. It wasn't bitter, or sarcastic, or anything. Part of mean was genuinely concerned for her well-being.

She meekly nodded.

"Don't worry. It's going to be alright." I reached out and took her hand.

For a moment, she seemed startled. I thought that she might have pulled away, but instead she nodded again, this one firmer. If Junpei's looming ghost stories hadn't turned her face white, she might have been blushing.

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Lovers Arcana…**_

_You know, I feel like I should take this time to point out that this is the first romantic gesture the two of you have shared since studying together, all of two weeks ago. Seriously. Studying. I have to say, you're a pretty crappy boyfriend._

And of course, you're there to kill the mood. Great.

_Nah. I'm only grievously wounding the mood. Someone else will kill it. Anyway, I'd recommend you try showing signs of compassion more often. Otherwise, you never know what might happen. She might go crazy and try kill all of you._

Somehow, I doubt that's going to happen.

_Just keep it in mind._

At that precise moment, the lights went off.

Yukari let out a chilling shriek, and within seconds was wrapped around my arm.

Mitsuru and Akihiko were much less affected. I could still hear them, gently sipping tea and chewing… whatever goes into a protein bar.

Then, with a skein of cackling laughter, a torch snapped on, illuminating Junpei's face.

"Weeellll-come, to Junpei's 'Believe it… or Don't'."

_That's what going to kill the mood._

* * *

Junpei flicked the lights back on. "So, what do you think?"

Akihiko unwrapped a second protein bar. "I think it could be worth investigating, at least."

Yukari just stared, face still pale, but now slowly regaining colour. "What? I mean, it's just a story. Ghosts aren't real. Right? Right?"

I scratched my head with my free arm. "Well, it's true that the story is probably a pile of crap…"

"Hey!"

"Sorry, Junpei, but it is. I imagine a school like ours has night-time security in addition to locks and alarms and everything, and I haven't heard of any security guards getting eaten by ghosts."

He gave a dejected sigh. "Point taken. Still, you have to admit it was weird that someone saw that girl going into school that night."

"That point does raise some concerns." Mitsuru finished her tea. "Would it be possible to look into the matter? It would be reassuring to know whether our school is as safe as we would like."

Yukari finally unwound herself from my arm. "Don't worry, sempai. We'll look into it." She managed to force a smile.

Well, time for 'investigation'. This would probably mean walking up to random strangers in the corridor and trying to talk to them, before they gave me a pile of odd looks and slowly walked away. Great.

I should probably leave this to Yukari.


	16. Chapter 15

Yep, 'investigating' meant walking up to random strangers in the corridor and trying to talk to them, before they gave me a pile of odd looks and slowly walked away. Great. After the fourth person backed away, I gave up and left it to Yukari.

That left me with a week with absolutely nothing to do. Fuuka was still absent, so I couldn't apologise; drafting on Magic Online could only fill up so much time; and I couldn't even go to the gym, as Akihiko was in there whenever I checked. I ended up stuffing waste paper into bins on the street and setting them on fire, then running away before the police arrived. It was more cathartic than it probably should have been. I missed large-scale arson.

By the time the week ended, the city had run out of bins, and I was almost bored enough to try set fire to the shrine again. At least getting executed would mean that something was happening.

Thankfully, Yukari came up to me at the end of the week, preventing anything like that from being necessary. "Remember what we talked about on Monday? We should talk about it some more tonight. Don't be late!"

I had no intention to be. I went straight back after school. To fill the time until everyone else got back, I picked up the copy of 'Persona Fusion for Dummies' again.

'Proposition Two Hundred and Ninety-Four: let _P_ represent a Persona of Face-Centred Orthorhombic Arcana. If _Q_ is a Persona to be successfully fused with_ P_, then _Q_ must either share Coprime Arcanic Residue with _P_, or otherwise be of none of the twenty-two standard Arcana (see footnote 84).'

At least the pictures were pretty.

Anyway, everyone else slowly trickled back, so we finally started the meeting.

"I hope you all found some good information!" Yukari started brightly.

Might as well get it out now. "Sorry, got nothing." When she pointed an accusatory stare in my direction, I raised my hands as a sign of peace. "Hey, it's not my fault people don't talk to me. People just don't like me."

She blinked for a few times, before settling on a resigned sigh. "Well, that's not really your fault. Junpei, what've you got?"

All the boy could do was laugh nervously.

"Seriously?" Yukari facepalmed. "Do I really have to say everything?"

"Junpei's fault, not mine."

He looked like raising some objection, but Yukari's glare cut him off. "_Ahem_. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?"

That meeting was one of the least interesting things to have happened in the two months I'd been here. Yukari ended up not-quite-shouting at us for close to an hour, mostly because Junpei kept zoning out and falling asleep, resulting in a lot of repetition. I forced myself to listen to all of it, largely out of politeness. In the end, there were few things to take away: there had actually been three related incidents, all the victims had been close to each other, and they frequented a spot somewhere near one of the train stations.

"…so, to find out what happened, we're going to do some field research," Yukari concluded.

"Wh-what?!" Junpei paled. "W-We can't go there! I mean, you know all the sorts of people who go there, and, and…"

"Really? Well, we should all go together, then." Yukari's smile was somewhat unsettling.

"Forget it… wouldn't we be going way over our heads?"

"Junpei." There was a sort of cold steel in Yukari's voice. "Up until now, all we've done is take orders. Does that feel right? Finally, we get to take action. You need to stand up and be a man."

"Or, you know. I could not."

A tense, deathly silence followed.

I sighed. "This is getting nowhere." I stood up and began walking out of the dorm.

"Wait, Minato-kun…" Yukari called out. "Where are you going?"

I turned around and tried to give a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. I'll be back in a moment."

* * *

Dark. Dark, dank and oppressive; that was the main atmosphere around that alley. A pallid, gibbous moon overhead, the maddening drip of leaking water, the suspicious scents wafting out through the air, the stagnant puddles of overflowing trash, the endless shadows enshrouding everything… together, they made an overall sense more overwhelming than the sum of its parts.

I still ignored them, though.

On entering the heart of the alley, I was immediately met by a wall of baleful stares. "Those rags…"

"Gekkou High, right?"

"Can't he tell?"

"You don't belong here…"

The speaker kept shifting around, such that it became almost impossible to pick out any individuals. It reminded me of some of the other gangs I'd met over the years. They were all the same – they acted tough, but were sufficiently brainless as to have no individuality. Picking them off one by one with overwhelming force was usually the best tactic.

Speaking of 'one by one', one of the thugs broke from the crowd. "Didn't you hear us, punk? You don't belong here. Now scram, before I smash your face in."

I took a good look at him. Nothing special. Boring street clothes, a couple of knife sheathes, and a two-by-four. Except…

I couldn't stop myself from breaking down into laughter.

"What do you think you're doing?!" the thug screamed. "Are you an idiot or something?"

I stopped laughing long enough to brush some stray hair out of my eyes. "No, I'm not an idiot. But you…" I gave a sarcastic round of applauses. "Chaining your nose to your face, so you don't lose it. What genius. What grandeur. What…"

Further insults were cut off by the man screaming something about murdering me and performing various acts upon my mother and sister, before pulling out two knives and charging.

He got two steps before I pulled out a can of deodorant and a lighter and set him on fire. Then he was screaming again, but for a different reason.

As he began running around in blind panic, everyone else stared at me. I cleared my throat. "Alright, scumbags. I've got some questions, and you've got the answers. You're going to tell me what you know, and I think you're lying, then I'm going to set more of you on fire. Do you understand?"

Silence.

These people really had no brains of their own. I sighed and set another one of them on fire. "Do. You. Shitheads. Understand?"

A chorus of panicked yelps answered, as another man ran out of the alley in blind panic. Extortion was fun.

"I'm glad you finally see things my way. Now, onto business. I take it that there were a few girls from my school that hung around here?"

"Y-yeah…" One of the girls said. "There were… three or four of them. They kept talking about all the things they did to some girl…"

"What was her name?"

"Aaah! It was, it was… Yamagishi! Fuuka Yamagishi!"

Tell us something we don't know. "Do you know any reason why those girls might have ended up in hospital?"

A man in a tank top gingerly spoke up. "I mean, no-one's certain, but everyone thinks that it was Fuuka's ghost…"

Ghosts. Really. "Do you expect me to believe that shit?" I let a lick of flame singe his hair.

Panicked screams. "I'm telling the truth! You gotta believe me! I mean, you go to her school, so I thought you knew, but no-one's seen her in a week! She hasn't been home, at school, anywhere she used to go… that's why they're saying she's dead!"

…What?! "Right. I'm leaving." If that was the truth, then someone at school would have been covering some things up. Mitsuru would probably know.

Just before leaving, I turned back to the crowd. "And by the way, if any of you even think about telling anyone else about what happened here, I will hunt you down. I will find where you live, I will go there in the dead of night, and I will burn your house to the ground. And I won't leave you to die, oh, no. I will drag you out of there, so you can witness everything you've worked for and know collapse into smoke and dust and ashes. Do you understand?"

A glorious silence of fear. They understood. I turned and walked straight out of the alley.

Time immediately stopped for a moment.

_**Crack…**_

Huh. Social linking. Honestly, these links… they almost felt like they were being roughly stapled onto my everyday life, with all the precision of a rusty hammer. It wasn't exactly bad, but it felt somewhat odd.

_**Thou art I… and I am thou…**_

I had no idea what the card was meant to portray. Some sort of staff-like thing? Was it meant to be a key? It had a _V_ on it, anyway.

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Hierophant Arcana…**_

That raised a pile of issues. Most were minor, but who was that Social Link even with?

_I'll tell you that it's someone you've already met._

Right. As hints go, that's mostly useless, but I'll take it.

I continued walking back to the dorm.

* * *

"With all due respect for the both of you, Junpei would probably have frozen up in fear the moment he arrived and henceforth gotten stabbed several times, and you were displaying as much common sense as covering yourself in beefsteak and going swimming in shark-infested waters."

That was all the explanation I needed as for where I'd been, though Yukari did seem to be trying hard not to grind her teeth too obviously. Mitsuru and Akihiko had also arrived back, so I told everyone what I'd found.

Mitsuru's face darkened at the revelation. "That is… troubling, to say the least. I will need to look into this matter tomorrow. I trust that you will all remain vigilant."

Nothing else needed to be said that evening.

* * *

The morning passed uneventfully at school, though I was still somewhat on edge. Fuuka. She seemed an inherently good person. What had happened? Could she really be dead?

A loud knock on the door broke that train of thought, and a redhaired girl gracefully bowed in. "Arisato. Takeba. Iori. Meet me in the student council office now." She left without saying another word, prompting a wave of murmurs from the other students.

"What was that about?"

I shrugged. "Not entirely sure, but it's probably important." The three of us left the room in silence, all contemplating Mitsuru's abrupt summons.

Thinking went straight out the window when I saw who else was in that room.

Yukari let out a gasp. "You're… that girl…"

My eyes narrowed. Sitting there, staring at the ground, was a heavily tanned, hair-bleached vulture. I didn't bother hide the acid in my voice. "What did you do to Fuuka?"

She visibly flinched at my voice. "I… none of us ever thought it would turn out like this… I… we… she…"

I slammed a fist onto a table. "I'll ask again. What did you do to Fuuka?"

"Be calm, Arisato," Mitsuru commented. "This isn't an interrogation. I already had words with Yamagishi's homeroom teacher, as well as with Moriyama-san here. I already know what happened. I merely thought it would be preferable for the three of you to hear the story from her own mouth."

Okay. I forced myself to take a few calming breaths. Not an interrogation. What she said. It was… reasonable. That was the right word. I took a few steps back. Okay.

While I was calming myself, Vulture began speaking. "Fuuka… she always looked so frazzled whenever we gave her a hard time. But then… she's an honour student, but she's still the same as us, deep inside. We knew all her buttons. We… we were doing that that day as well. Friday, May the 29th… she came to us after we met at the bookstore. We took her to the gym, and… and… we locked the door. From the outside."

Junpei voiced what we all thought at that moment. "What?! You locked her in?"

She didn't reply to that. "It was… a sort of… revenge? The others saw what happened to me," she quickly flashed a glance in my direction, "and it was just, the friend of my enemy is an enemy, you know? But then, some of us thought we went too far. Maki… she came back alone, to let her out. But… but…"

"She never came back, and she was found lying by the school gate."

She gave a grim nod. "The next day, after what happened, I went to let her out. The door was still locked, but when we opened it, she… she wasn't there! We all freaked out. We all went searching for her. But we never found her, and every night, another one of us went missing… and they all ended up like Maki.

"But… they all said something. Just before they went missing, they all said they heard a voice. Calling for them. Calling their names…" With that, her voice trailed off, and she slumped in her chair completely, visibly spent.

For a while, a silence hung in the air, as we all contemplated what she said. Fuuka had been locked in the school overnight. Overnight. A period of time, during which the school turned into hell on earth, filled with things that would eat your brain – that was probably what had happened to those girls. To say the situation was bad would be an understatement.

"Thank you, Moriyama-san," Mitsuru calmly spoke. "You may take your leave now, but I would recommend staying at our dorm until further notice. Inform us at once if you hear any voices."

She blankly nodded and left the room.

Mitsuru then turned back to us. "There are two reasons why I called you here this lunchtime. The first was to inform the three of you of the situation; Akihiko already knows. The second is to now discuss our course of action."

I nodded. "We need to go into Tartarus."

A small smile crept across Mitsuru's lips. "Well done, Arisato. I'm impressed that you caught up onto that so quickly."

Junpei looked puzzled. "Wait. Hold on a sec. Why Tartarus? How could she have gotten there?"

"Iori. Every midnight, what does this school turn into?"

"Into- oh." The puzzlement was replaced by painful understanding; something similar appeared on Yukari's face. "So she's been there for, what, eight days? That means…"

"Not necessarily. Recall that Tartarus only appears during the Dark Hour. What happens during the rest of the day?"

Huh. Good point. "Are you suggesting that, even though it's been eight days for us, it's only been eight hours for her?"

Mitsuru nodded. "It's possible that she's still alive."

"Really?" The hope in Junpei's voice was palpable, only to be replace by another wave of doubt. "But… the Dark Hour is pretty nasty, right? We can barely manage one hour. How could she manage eight?"

"Stupei's right…" Yukari's voice was similarly downcast. "And even if she's alive, can we reach her? Tartarus is a nightmare to navigate…"

"Are you just going to let her die, then?" We all snapped back to attention as Akihiko strode into the room. "I won't stand back and do nothing. If there's a chance we can save her, I'm going to take it. Otherwise, I'd never forgive myself."

Junpei and Yukari still seemed to be wavering a bit, so I spoke up. "Akihiko's right. We can't just let her die. Well, I can't. I still have things I need to say to her, and I won't let them go unsaid."

_Look at you, playing the noble hero. It almost feels like you're going out of character._

Shut up, Lyra.

Akihiko gave a light smirk. "Glad to see someone gets where I'm coming from. How about the two of you?"

Junpei closed his eyes for a moment. "Alright, I'm in. I hope I don't regret this." Yukari followed suit.

Akihiko smiled. "Alright. I have an idea. The quickest way to get to Fuuka would be to enter Tartarus the way she did." Erm… there seemed to be something slightly off with his logic, but Akihiko continued. "We'll wait in the gym until midnight. It's the best way."

Something flashed in Mitsuru's eyes. "Akihiko! If something goes wrong with that plan, you could all end up trapped in Tartarus as well. Are you sure about this?"

Akihiko only gave a firm stare of confirmation. The silence was almost choking.

I let out a gentle cough, and four pairs of eyes turned to me. "Um… I know that I just said that I want to save her, but… Occam's Razor?"

* * *

It took a while, but we (me and Mitsuru) eventually convinced Akihiko to try a less dangerous method first, and enter Tartarus by the front door.

Of course, all that ended up doing was proving Akihiko right. We didn't find any traces of Fuuka at all.

"Sorry about that."

Akihiko let out a sigh. "Don't worry about it. I get where you were coming from. We just have to work extra hard tomorrow."

Yukari scratched her head. "Um, isn't tomorrow Sunday? How are we meant to get into school?"

A pause, followed by a wave of collective groaning. "We could…"

"Iori, before you say anything, no."

Another silence. All we could do now is hope that she would make it through another two hours.

I sighed. "How much longer 'til the Dark Hour ends?"

"About half an hour. Why?"

I pulled out my Persona Compendium. "I don't have an effective working flamethrower at the moment, and I don't really like using swords, so I might as well try get some practice with this so it's less likely to blow me up. Is that alright?"

Mitsuru paused. "Go to a floor with few enemies. Akihiko, Takeba, Iori, you should go make sure he doesn't hurt himself."

A quick wave of nods and a teleport later, we were on the fifth floor. No enemies, and easy to drag my unconscious body out of if necessary. "I'm going to be around the corner, so you don't get caught up in any explosions. Okay?"

"Just be careful, okay?"

I nodded and walked away. Alright. First things first, make sure I can still summon things from this book.

I turned to the first page. A couple of wild hand gestures later, a card materialised. Promptly crushing it, there was that familiar arm-tingly feeling again. That still worked. Good.

I probably didn't need to check whether all my Personas were effectively walking bombs, so the next big thing to do was check if that Fusion-Spell-thing still worked. I pulled my Evoker to my head. "Pied Piper! Apsaras!"

The Pied Piper appeared without incident. And then, pain.

The first time one of my Personas exploded on me – that had been Apsaras as well, hadn't it? – there had been a lot of pain. Deep, drilling, strangely precise, leaving a generally hollow feeling behind. By willpower, necessity, and maybe a bit of lunacy, I'd mostly gotten used to that.

This was so much worse. This wasn't like a lobotomy. This… it almost felt like all the blood in my brain had been replaced by sulfuric acid. Actually, scratch that. Sulfuric acid wasn't anywhere near corrosive enough.

_I believe fluoroantimonic acid is the one you're looking for. Also, your eyes are bleeding._

It was true. I could feel the blood leaking out, out of the corners of my eyes, down my cheeks. And not just from my eyes, either. From my nose, my mouth, my ears… everything was leaking blood. And it wasn't a slow drip, like a nosebleed or anything like that. It was coming out in torrents and spurts, like a thousand severed arteries.

Everything was fading. I took a step back, keeled over, and my head smashed into the ground.

For a moment, everything was black.

Then, colours started to return. Green, and black. I recognised that ceiling, didn't I?

Yes. I was in Tartarus, and… something had just happened. I wasn't sure what, but…

_You see, this is why you don't summon Personas of Reversed Arcana. This happens._

Unsteadily, I rose to my feet. I could still feel my face covered in traces of my own blood, but nothing was bleeding anymore. Externally, at least.

Lyra, what exactly happened there?

_I could give a long, detailed, boring report, but I'll spare you that. Here's the gist of it. You tried to summon Apsaras. Apsaras is a Priestess, and you reversed the Priestess, so Apsaras hates you and tried to kill you. _

That's… not exactly reassuring.

_Oh, it gets better. Essentially, every single blood vessel in your brain managed to burst simultaneously, as well as a couple in your neck and some other places. Given the blood supply needed to keep your brain functional, the resulting exsanguination was sufficient for your heart to stop beating for about two seconds._

…My heart stopped.

_Yep. Don't worry, though. You got better, after all. Death is cheap like that. Besides, it happens in hospitals all the time. Well, maybe not all the time, but you get what I mean. Their heart stops, and it's a race against time before all their cells spontaneously expire. Isn't it amazing?_

I… have no idea how to process this.

_Then don't. Just pretend that nothing happened. After all, you're a hundred percent alive now. Your heart's beating, your lungs are breathing, and your brain is ticking over nicely. Everything's fine._

Okay… but, if all the blood vessels in my brain exploded, shouldn't my brain, you know, have fried or something?

_Probably, but it didn't. Have fun!_

Urgh. While I didn't really want to do much more experimenting after that, I still felt like I had to. Saving Fuuka might depend on this. Even if this did prove to be an utter waste of time and effort, more skill could always be handy.

Next on the agenda: Fusion, and Fusion Spells. Both involved summoning two Personas at the same time. I might as well jam two together and see what happens. I flicked to two random pages.

"Valkyrie! Nekomata!"

A cloaked and armoured lady on a horse materialised out of thin air, clutching a pair of long blades. She was promptly followed by the appearance of a familiar cat-lady-thing. For a few moments, they just stood there.

Then they began to dissipate, into what looked like clouds of energy. The clouds seeped into each other, and intertwined into one giant sphere.

Then it exploded.

There wasn't any fire, or ice, or electricity or anything like that to go with the explosion. A single wave of pure force rolled out, accompanied by a deafening crack, almost like thunder. Mitsuru would later tell me that she heard it on the ground floor.

Anyway, the wall of force was like being hit by a freight train, and the next thing I knew was that I was sprawled against a wall, with way too many cracked and broken bones and a pair of ruptured eardrums.

And then, of course, time had to stop for a moment.

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the True Fool Arcana…**_

_Huh. Didn't expect that._

Lyra, would you care to explain what just happened?

_Let me run through the numbers again… yep. From what I thought you should have been able to do, that should not have resulted in an explosion. At least, not straight away. Hell, that random Social Link with yourself suggests that this should have been more significant. This probably should have resulted in a successful Persona Fusion._

_Now, I can think of three viable explanations for why this didn't work: my numbers and assumptions are completely wrong, in which case your powers make less sense than I thought, or the Persona you fused managed to explode before it was fully formed, in which case your powers also make less sense than I thought, or there are other factors which I can't think of now, in which case your power might make less sense than I thought. In any case, you probably lose._

Great. Just great.

The tingly feeling of being healed broke my internal conversation. "Minato-kun! Are you alright?"

I poked my ears to find they were still leaking a bit of blood, and I was reminded of just how much my entire body was hurting at that moment. "Not really?"

* * *

A massive pile of healing spells later, and my bones were mostly back in place. Surprisingly, they weren't that bad, even without healing – running about and setting things on fire in Tartarus must have toughened me up.

Mitsuru, however, insisted that I took a few days to rest and recuperate, which meant I would miss the 'rescue Fuuka' mission. "Your safety is paramount. This operation carries a great deal of risk, and we cannot risk you in your current state."

I tried to voice some protests, but they were all cut off by her piercing gaze. Thus, come Monday evening, I was left in the dorm, watching over a girl whose name I still didn't know and who I still didn't like.

For a couple of hours, there was only silence.

Eventually, she decided to speak. "Why aren't you with them?"

I took a sip of water. "Various injuries. I'm not at my best at the moment."

"Really? How… never mind. I don't really care."

Silence returned.

"Did you really hate her that much?"

She looked up. "You mean Fuuka? Get real. Stuff like that doesn't have anything to do with hate. She annoys me, that's all. I mean, you hung out with her a bit, didn't you? You should get where I'm coming from."

She looked at me, almost as if expecting some sort of affirmation. When none was coming, she continued as if nothing had happened. "Whenever we poked Fuuka, even just a little, there was always this look on her face. It was like hell had opened up for the end of the world. She was a goody-goody. Anyone could tell that right off the bat.

"And yet, she was also just like us. She just wanted a place to belong, so she put up with us. I mean, you of all people should get this. No-one likes you. Everyone thinks you're a deranged lunatic, who should be locked up for the good of the people. Isn't that why you hang out with Little Miss Princess McBitchface and the school's resident brick?

"Still not talking? Whatever. You're just like Fuuka, putting up with whatever we threw at her. And she even tried to help us! 'You should go home, your parents have to be worried sick!' Always in that shrill, whiny voice of hers… it made me sick. Why do you think I went out every night? I have no home. There's nothing for me there."

"Why are you telling me this?"

She paused, as if stupefied. "Isn't it obvious, after all we've said? We're the same. There's nothing left for us in our pasts, and we both take it out on those around us. So what if I bully? You burn things. I mean…"

"Shut up." I gave the harshest, most piercing stare I could; while not on level with Mitsuru's, she still looked taken aback. "We are not the same. Don't even think it."

Silence returned.

"Do you know what happened?"

She looked back at me, glowering. "What do you want now?"

"At the bookstore, after you left. Do you know what happened?"

She shook her head. "I guessed she came crawling over after you left."

"She slapped me."

She blinked, before letting out a laugh. "Really? She did that? That seems so unlike her."

"She said she wanted to apologise."

A snort. "Kinda late for that now."

"She said she was afraid that you wouldn't forgive her, given what I did."

A roll of the eyes. "That sounds exactly like her."

"Maybe it does. But what struck me the most was that at the end, she said that you were her precious friend. She picked you over me."

I stood up from my place on the sofa. "I'll let you think about that. I'm going to get a can of generic energy drink."

I heard her mutter something as I left, but I paid it no notice.

As energy drinks go, the ones in the dorm vending machines were pretty nasty. It was just a rip-off of a more famous brand, after all. Still, it kept the blood sugar up. I was forcing the last of it down my throat when I returned to the lobby, to find no trace of whatshername at all.

I facepalmed. Where the hell could she have gone? At the very least, we told her to stay in the dorm, so she still probably should be in here somewhere…

She wasn't on the first floor, but I hadn't really been expecting her to be. She wasn't on the second floor, which raised concerns. Those were amplified when she wasn't on the third floor. When she wasn't on the fourth floor, I was on the verge of punching something.

When the roof was also empty, and when I'd checked everywhere a second time, I set fire to one of my textbooks, threw it out of the window so the building wouldn't catch fire, watched as midnight hit and everything turned green, pulled out my phone and punched in Mitsuru's number.

One ring. Two rings. Three rings.

"Hello?"

"Mitsuru, it's me. The girl disappeared."

A pause. "Could you explain?"

"The girl. At the dorm. She disappeared. I left the lounge to get a drink, and when I came back, she was gone. I looked everywhere. Nothing."

Another pause. "Are you sure you looked everywhere?"

"Yes. Well, everywhere she could have gone. The command room was locked tight, and I'd also locked my room as I didn't want her getting in, so…"

"I doubt she would be in there, but check your own room for completion. After that, wait for us to return. We'll check the command room, and then we can plan further. Do you understand?"

I nodded. "Understood." She hung up.

I quickly hiked up to my room, and dug out my room key. I wasn't expecting anything, but…

I definitely wasn't expecting him.

"Hi there."

Sitting on the bed was the odd boy in the striped pyjamas.

"What are you doing here?"

He pouted. "I thought I told you that you should be nicer when greeting people. Don't you remember?"

I shook my head clear. "Sorry. It's been a stressful evening."

He smiled. "Don't worry. I get you. Anyway, it looks like your teammates have found the girl. Good for them."

A wave of relief flooded my body. "Fuuka's okay? Thank god for that."

A chuckle crept from his mouth. "Do you know which god you're thanking? Anyway, her abilities are something you all need right now. It'll be good for you."

He paused, as if thinking how to phrase his next question. "Are you sure you shouldn't go?"

I frowned. "What do you mean?"

"They might need your help. After all, the other girl went there."

She went to Tartarus? "That's… troubling, I guess. But I trust them. I don't think I could get over there before this world stops being green, anyway."

A new smile crossed his lips, all too different from all the others I'd seen before. Gone was the childish innocence, to be replaced by some sort of deeper malice, almost like a murderer. He turned his gaze out of the window, and three blunt words fell from his mouth. "Are you sure?"

I looked out the window, to see a garishly bright full moon bearing down on us. It was heavy, it was oppressive, and it brought with it a sense of cold nostalgia.

Nostalgia…

Something clicked.

I'd seen this moon before, hadn't I?

The night we'd walked to the monorail, before the Priestess Shadow. And that night, on the roof of the dorm, right before I'd pressed the Evoker's trigger for the first time, against that other large Shadow – it had been a Magician, hadn't it?

Two full moons, two large Shadows. And now a third full moon…

"You get it now, don't you? A new trial is coming tonight."

Shit.

I wheeled to the boy. "Why didn't you tell me this sooner?!"

He just laughed. "I guess I inherited more from you than I thought." Without bothering to explain any more, he vanished into thin air.

Shit.

I pulled out my phone again. Recent numbers. Dial. One ring… "Hello?"

"Mitsuru! Is everything alright over there?"

Confusion. "Yes, everything's fine over here… why are you asking?"

Another voice, faint over the phone. "Sempai?" Yukari. "Do you hear that?"

"Now that you mention it…"

A loud crash, and garbled shouts and screams. "Wh- What is this?"

"Mitsuru! What's happening?"

More crashing, more shouts.

"Mitsuru! Yukari! Can anyone hear me?"

The blank beep of a line falling dead.

Shit.

Okay. Don't panic. Try stay calm, and rational. I need to get over there. Screw R&amp;R. But how can I get there quickly enough? Walking's too slow, the rails are dead, and we don't have a car or anything…

Wait. We don't have a car, but Mitsuru had a motorbike, right? She'd understand if I borrowed it. She'd have to. If I were her, I'd keep the keys on my desk.

Hold on tight, everyone. I'm coming.


	17. Chapter 16

A/N: With this chapter comes some minor updates to the previous chapters. Nothing major changed, but as a summary:

'Evoker' is now a proper noun

'Shadow', 'Arcana' and 'Compendium' have been corrected to consistently be proper nouns

Reworded the third section of the Prologue

Adjusted some wordings at the end of Chapter 3 to make Lyra's character slightly more consistent

Added some extra lines of conversation with Lyra to Chapter 12 to correct some very minor plot holes

Added missing description of Hermit Arcana card in Chapter 12

Changed an honorific in Chapter 12

Added some extra lines to the scene with Akihiko in Chapter 13 to make the level up flow better

Reorganised the scene in Tartarus in Chapter 15 so the Social Link level-up feels slightly less like coming out of thin air

Corrected numerous typos

So nothing major, but important for quality. Enjoy the chapter.

* * *

The situation wasn't good.

I'd arrived as quickly as possible, and everything had already gone south. There were several reasons for this: that girl had arrived ahead of me, and was now a sitting duck; everyone else was already out of action, battered and bloody on the floor; and I would have to have some words with that weird boy later, as he had forgotten to tell me that there were two large, potentially lethal shadows that I'd have to face. One looked like a fat, bloated courtesan from medieval France with a swan's face grafted on, waving a staff around; its mask was that of the Empress Arcana. The other looked like it could have been some sort of proud king of ages past, had it not looked completely withered and wasted. Its mask was the crownlike structure of the Emperor Arcana.

One plus to be taken from the situation was the Fuuka was still alive, and had somehow taken the initiative to pick up an excessively realistic model gun and shoot herself in the head. She was standing within a figure that I assumed was her Persona.

I couldn't get a good look, as the Emperor had a giant sword, and was about to stab her in the throat.

I did the only thing I could think of. "Pied Piper! Meatshield!"

In a flurry of black and white, the Pied Piper appeared, and immediately skewered himself on the giant sword. I winced. His temporary sacrifice did manage to deflect the thrust, however, burying it harmlessly in the ground a few yards away.

"Minato-san?" Fuuka turned to ask. "W-what are you doing here?"

"Making sure that nobody dies. We'll explain everything later, we just need to get out of this mess first." I pulled out a can of deodorant. "Time to burn!"

I pulled the trigger, and let a snaking cone of flame writhe over the Emperor shadow.

It didn't respond in any way.

From somewhere on the floor, Junpei's voice called out. "Forget it! Fire doesn't work on that thing! I already tried."

Urgh. Time for Plan B: make an explosion and see what happens. "Jack Frost!"

A cuddly little snowman in a jester's hat appeared. He let out a relaxed laugh, danced around a little, ran towards the enemy Shadows, and exploded.

The blast radius wasn't especially large – I was about ten feet away and I was hardly staggered at all. However, the power was intense. From where I was, it felt like being dropped in a blizzard with only a potato sack to wear. At the epicentre, both shadows were completely encased in ice.

"Did it… work?" Fuuka gingerly asked from behind me.

"Maybe." I still held my Evoker ready, just in case.

A moment passed.

Then another.

Just when I thought that things might be okay, a pile of glowing lights suddenly appeared. In front of each of them, were seven lights: four in an outer circle, surrounding three within. They danced and spun around oddly and queerly, before vanishing just like they'd arrived.

I had enough sense to recognise that in this context, the lights had to be bad.

"Be careful! They're still alive!"

Right on cue, cracks began appearing in the ice. Small at first, they quickly expanded, before shattering the ice into powdered snow.

Hmm. This would need some new methods. At the very least, I probably needed Jack Frost again. I grabbed my Compendium, skimmed through the pages, and was slammed in the side by the Empress's staff. With a dull crack, I rammed into Fuuka's Persona. The Compendium went skidding out of reach.

I coughed out a crude globule of blood. That would hurt in the morning. If I even made it to the morning.

As I struggled to regain some composure, a voice called out. "Arisato!" Mitsuru looked like a beaten shell of her usual self. "Get Yamagishi and Moriyama out of here!"

I paused. Normally, in Tartarus, I always tended to listen to her orders, but… "What?" Argh. Getting slammed in the side had done more damage than I'd thought. My voice was rough and hoarse, and speaking was painful. "I came here to back you up! I can't just leave!"

"If you stay, we'll all be killed!" Speaking for her must have been just as painful as for me. "Get out of here and save yourselves!"

Seemingly to emphasise this, the Emperor lifted his sword again. I barely managed to summon the Pied Piper in time again to block the blow.

"What are you doing?" Akihiko shouted. "Go! Hurry!"

In all honesty, that was what every part of my common sense was beginning to tell me to do. Pick up the girls, and save yourself.

"Polydeuces!" In a flash of light, Akihiko's Persona appeared. A stocky figure, well built, with flowing blond hair and what looked like a spear on one of its arms, it rammed into the Emperor. "I'm buying you some time! Get out of here!"

Running. That had been such a large part of my life. Not the metaphorical kind, but the literal kind, as in 'how long can you run from the cops after you torch a school before they catch you'. It would be easy. I could outrun these things no problem, with or without the girls. Escape would be easy.

"Come on, dude!" With another bang, Hermes appeared and joined the distraction effort. "We can't keep this up forever! Get going, damn it!"

Yes, escape would be easy. So…

"Go!" Another bang, and Io joined the fray. "Just go already! Hurry!"

…Why wouldn't my feet move?

With an arcing swing, the Emperor cleaved Hermes straight in two, before launching a fist straight through Io. Both dissipated into blueish smoke. This was followed by the Empress smashing its staff into Polydeuces' skull.

"Go, Arisato! That's an order!"

I looked over the scene again. Everyone was sprawled across the floor, bruised and broken. Akihiko, a husk of the confident boxer everyone knew. Junpei, always so upbeat, barely managing to hold himself off the floor. Yukari, hardly staying conscious. Mitsuru, usually picture-perfectly rational, on the edge of raving despair.

Could I really leave my friends to die like this?

…Wait. Since when did I consider them friends?

_Oh, god. Listen. While I'm sure you want to deal with this deep soul searching about you coming out of your shell and discovering the true power of friendship and camaraderie, et cetera, ad nauseam, could you do it later? If you didn't realise it, things are still trying to kill you._

Well, that was true. The Shadows seemed to have dismissed everyone else as a threat, as the Emperor was lifting its sword again, and the Empress was closing in as well.

"Didn't you hear me? Go, Arisato! It's an order!"

But, no. I couldn't leave them. Two months, and…

_Monologue later!_

Right. I rolled to the side, barely avoiding the Emperor's thrust.

"Hey, Mitsuru, I'm not sure if you realised, but as a persistent offender, authority doesn't really mean much to me. I'm not leaving you, okay?"

I zoned out their responses. Lyra, how many random Personas do I have lying about in my head to use as bombs?

_None. You used most of them up when you were looking for Fuuka, and you forgot to replace them. Jack Frost there was the last one._

…And you didn't tell me this because…?

_You never asked._

Great. Well, I have no idea where my Compendium flew off to, so all I have is an almost useless Persona and my fists. Just peachy.

Well, at the very least, I could be a distraction so the others could try put themselves back together.

I ducked under a swing that would have cleanly decapitated me, dashed forward, and sent a foot flying straight into the Emperor's knee.

It responded by kicking me square in the chest. Completely flattened and winded, the next thing I saw clearly was a giant sword rushing towards my face.

Entirely out of instinct, my head jerked to the side, but not in time to avoid it completely. More than a trickle of blood was now leaking from the tip of my left ear.

It took way more effort than I would have wanted to get back to my feet. By the time I had just about regained my balance, the Empress began swirling its staff around. From nowhere, it called forth a giant vortex of wind, gathering strength as it swirled through the lobby of Tartarus. It then pointed it straight at me.

I had enough time to let out a couple of swears before I was sent flying. I crashed into something, and I heard another couple of bones crack. Then the wind stopped; I started falling, recognised that I'd collided into the ceiling, and hit the ground with yet more cracking bones.

The odd glow nearby told me that I'd landed right back where I started. Next to Fuuka. Yeah, none of that had gone well.

I tried to get back to my feet, before my body screamed out in pain and collapsed into limp meat. I could barely manage to turn my head to see the two Shadows approaching, intent obvious.

Well, I'm going to die now. It's been a good run. I guess I'll see everyone in the afterlife.

_So are you just giving up?_

I'm not giving up. I'm just recognising that I'm probably going to get killed in about ten seconds.

_No, you won't. You're not going to die here. You're too important._

Being important doesn't grant immunity to being stabbed.

_Yes, but I can put you back together afterwards._

Well, that is true, but it still doesn't change how I can't really do anything here with just my fists.

_Don't worry. I'm sure things will turn out alright. Now, we need to wait for a moment._

Why do we AAAaaAAaAAgGGHhhhhhhh

Let me tell you, getting stabbed by a giant sword straight through the lower back is not a pleasant experience. It wasn't an instantly killing blow – huh, it should have had more than enough time to line up a strike to my heart or neck – but in no shape, way, or form was it pleasant.

Several seconds of indescribable pain followed, before the sword's weight made it topple, nearly wrenching my spine out in the process.

_We had to wait there so I wouldn't have to patch you up twice. Now, I need to recalcify your bones, put your organs back in place, and fix up that sword wound._

That's all good, but how am I still alive?

_Your nervous system is probably too frazzled to notice it, but you should be feeling that thing you get whenever there are other things messing around with your body. It's keeping you alive. Anyway, now you're fully functional again, you should be able to feel it fading._

I could. There it was, that inky wrongness, feeling like it was eating away at my soul, now gently receding. I forced the last of it aside and pushed myself back to my feet.

The first thing I saw was Fuuka, and she was (understandably) completely confused. "But… you just… how…"

"I'll explain later."

I turned back to the lobby, to see the both Shadows sprawled out on the floor, bits of electricity sparking around them. An unsteady Akihiko had his Evoker to his head, and his usual smirk across his face. "A fight's no fun if someone else is protecting you all the time, you know. I can't let you have all of it. Are you alright? It looked like it dropped its sword next to you."

I winced, rubbing my back. So that was why… "Probably not, but I can deal with it." I walked over to him and helped him steady himself, before pulling the others to their feet.

"That was close, Minato-kun," Yukari began. "I'm glad you're alright."

_She has it bad for you._

Shut up, Lyra.

Oblivious, she continued. "At least it's over now, right?"

I turned back to the where the two Shadows were still sprawled out over the floor. Something twitched inside of me. Every other Shadow we'd fought, even the big ones, had always sort of dissolved when we'd beat them, so… "I still don't think it's over."

As if on cue, the odd swirling lights appeared above the Shadows again, and they got back to their feet.

Akihiko wasted no time. With a single Evoker shot, Polydeuces appeared again and rained the battlefield with lightning.

It had no effect.

I turned to everyone else. "Does anyone have an idea which might work?"

A loud, panicked yelp distracted us before anyone responded. I quickly turned. Fuuka. Which was odd, as the two Shadows were still lumbering around towards us, and not her. Still, if she yelled, it probably meant something.

I danced around a couple of sword strikes and under a broad staff swing, reaching Fuuka in one piece. She was still under her Persona. "What happened?"

Her eyes were wide, as if in revelation. "…I can see… I can see it!"

Alright… this was either going to be incredibly useful, or she'd gone insane. Well, one way to find out. "What do you see?"

She continued to stare, like she wasn't fully recognising my presence. "These monsters… they can change their weaknesses at will… that's what the lights mean… use fire! It will work now!"

Well, it was worth a shot, right? I reached into my pocket for my deodorant, and hissed when I found a pile of jagged metal. I wiped the blood off on my trousers. "Junpei! Set them on fire!"

He looked over at me in puzzlement. "What? I told you it wouldn't do anything!"

"Just try it anyway!"

"Alright, then. Hermes!" His Persona broke off from a duel with the Empress to carpet bomb the lobby with fire. When the flames cleared, both Shadows were sprawled out on the ground again. "Wait, that seriously worked?"

Evidently, yes. I considered asking Fuuka about how she'd known that, before I recognised that she herself probably wouldn't have known how she'd known that. Besides, the Shadows weren't dead yet, as another set of glowing lights appeared, right before they stood up again. "What now?"

Fuuka closed her eyes in thought. "Let me see… it's vulnerable to electricity!"

"I heard ya!" An Evoker cracked, and Polydeuces appeared again, promptly calling down a thousand bolts of thundering lightning onto the twin Shadows below.

More flashing lights.

"Wind will work!"

"Got it!" A familiar cow-lady appeared, and smashed them with a giant shockwave.

More flashing lights.

"Try ice!" Umm… I started looking around for my Compendium, before Mitsuru spoke up.

"Leave this to me." She straightened her stance, smoothed out her clothes, and pressed her Evoker to her temple. "Penthesilea."

With a crack and a flash of light, I saw Mitsuru's Persona for the first time. Tall, lithe, and graceful, crowned and armoured with burnished steel, wielding a pair of twinned blades, it carried much of the same regal air as Mitsuru did at her finest. Without any further words, it pointed both of its swords at the Shadows. A blizzard swiftly rose up, pelting both shadows in a torrent of snow and sleet and hail. Both were soon encased in ice.

More flashing lights.

"Slashing attacks will work!"

Great. I didn't bring my sword today. Oh well. "Junpei, it's up to you!"

"Oh, I've got this, no problem." Fuelled by hope and adrenaline, he grabbed his greatsword from the floor and charged forwards. The Emperor had only just broken free from its cage of ice. It had no way to react when four-and-a-half pounds of solid steel came swinging at its legs. They came cleanly off at the knee.

This naturally caused the Emperor to make some scream-like sounds and collapse. Junpei paid no heed. He kept on running, straight towards the Empress. He dodged a blast of wind, parried a clumsy staff blow, and split open its bloated stomach with a single sweep. Black ichor then leaking from the wound, he wasted no time into driving his blade in, twisting it as deep as it would go.

For several seconds, the Empress stood there, just twitching.

"Let's end this. Hermes." The Greek god appeared again. With a single slice from neck to groin, it cleaved the Shadow in half. Both collapsed onto the ground, before dissolving into ichor.

Cheers went up around the lobby. "Woohoo!" "Impressive." "We did it!" "Wait, Stupei did something useful?"

More flashing lights reminded us that the job wasn't done yet. "What's it weak to now?"

Fuuka's brown furrowed deeper. "Let me see… no… no… what?… but… it can't be!" Her eyes suddenly snapped open in a mixture of confusion and horror.

That couldn't be good. "What's wrong?"

"It isn't… I can't detect any weaknesses!"

…This situation just went from looking very good to looking a whole lot worse. "Are you sure?" All Fuuka could do was nod. "Urgh. Well, we might as well just try everything anyway."

And we did. Hermes launched fireballs and intricate slashing manoeuvres. Io pelted it with barrages of force and wind. Penthesilea froze it in ice, over and over. Polydeuces shocked and zapped it, and turned to brute force of fists when all else failed.

None of it did anything. Here we were, facing a completely crippled Shadow, already weakened, while we were completely unable to do anything. I resorted for grinding my teeth.

_You're overthinking things. Whenever you came across a situation like this before, what did you do?_

…Make explosions and see what happens? Except that, you know. Fuuka already said that it wouldn't work.

_How do you know if you don't try?_

Well, I suppose I could. There's nothing to lose, anyway. Where did the Compendium fly off to?

_I believe that the Emperor is currently lying on top of it._

Then why did you even bring up the issue of explosions?

_Because even without it, you still have a source of explosions on hand with no risk to yourself, no matter how unreliable he is._

Unreliable? That would be… something snapped in my mind, about the first trip into Tartarus, all that time ago. Not exactly expecting anything to come of it, I readied my Evoker again. "Pied Piper. Remember that one time you actually did something? Do it again."

I pulled the trigger, and he appeared again, about as annoyed as he had been on that trip into Tartarus. Like that time, he put his lips to the rim of his flute, and gently started blowing.

On cue, a giant ball of light descended from the ceiling, gaining speed as it fell. For a moment, it looked like it would settle on the Emperor's surface, causing no damage at all.

Then a damp, wet sound rang out, and the ball began burrowing into its body like a voracious parasite.

A few tense seconds passed in silence, before an intense beam of light radiated out from the hole, and the Shadow began to ripple. It lasted for a second before it exploded into a gaping mess of bile and ichor, accompanied by an ugly rain of jagged black fleshy lumps.

Why had that actually worked?

…

You know, that was directed at you, Lyra.

_I know. The thing is, though, you'd probably also have at least several other questions to accompany that, and there isn't the time right now. Wait until tomorrow or something, okay?_

I suppose that's acceptable.

"Fuuka!" A voice from behind me called out. I pivoted to see Fuuka sprawled on the floor, being cradled by that girl.

"It's alright," Mitsuru reassured. "She's just unconscious. Doing all that must have exhausted her."

She was safe, and alive. That much was good. "Where did those two Shadows come from?"

Mitsuru's expression became more thoughtful. "From somewhere outside of Tartarus. They walked through the front door." What was left unsaid was how the other large Shadows we'd encountered had also been outside of Tartarus.

Before we could brood any more, Yukari spoke up. "Um, what are we going to do about Moriyama-san?" Oh, right. That girl had a name. "She saw the Dark Hour, and the Shadows, and…"

"Don't worry," Akihiko interrupted. "Normal people can't remember the Dark Hour. The good thing is that she didn't fall victim to the Shadows. She should be safe for now."

"Still…" Yukari was still worried. "I mean, wouldn't she forget that Fuuka saved her life? That hardly seems fair."

"That shouldn't be a problem." Mitsuru gestured to where a barely coherent… – I'd forgotten her name already – was still weeping and clutching over Fuuka's body. "I think she's learnt her lesson."

A calm silence fell over Tartarus, as we all took a moment to recollect ourselves before heading back to the dorm.

"Hey, dude," Junpei spoke up, "Where did you learn how to ride a motorcycle like that?"

"Um…" I gingerly scratched my head. "You tend to learn a lot of stuff while running away from authorities."

A teasing smile crept across Mitsuru's lips. "And does that 'stuff', as you so call it, explain how you started my motorcycle while its keys are right here, in my pocket?"

I let out a nervous laugh. "I suppose you could say that?" At her gaze, I quickly clarified. "Okay. I hotwired it."

The smile widened. "Just don't do it again."

A pause.

"Wait, is that it?"

"Why do you ask, Arisato? While I am unsure of your motivation in coming here, I recognise the aid that you gave us was vital. As such, I will not be pressing further punishments. Unless you would like to be executed?"

I couldn't shake my head fast enough. From somewhere, I could hear Akihiko and Yukari holding back some guffaws.

Mitsuru relaxed her shoulders, and any final tension in the room evaporated. Junpei summed it up. "Nothing quite like collective near-death experiences to bring the team together, right?"

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Fool Arcana…**_

* * *

After the Dark Hour ended, we called an ambulance for Fuuka, letting the other girl go with her. The walk back to the dorm was comfortable, filled with Junpei trying to get tips on bike riding and hotwiring when Mitsuru wasn't listening.

Of course, we were all still exhausted. When I went to bed, I'm pretty sure I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.

It was somewhat surprising that, when I came to, everything was black.

_Welcome back to your brainspace. Third time here, eh? Is it starting to feel like home?_

Not at all. Anyway, why am I here this time?

_You had questions, didn't you? Here, we have time. Ask away. And yes, we could have done this while you were conscious, but we didn't. So there._

Alright, then. First off, why did that light-explosion-thing actually do damage? Fuuka said it didn't have any weaknesses.

_She couldn't detect any weaknesses. Not the same. Things are often not as they seem. Just because she didn't detect any doesn't mean there weren't any._

But what was the weakness, then? Nothing elemental worked, nor did anything physical.

_Exactly. If it was immune to physical and elemental things, then the explosion must have channelled something neither elemental nor physical._

I took a moment to process it. Are you saying that explosions are representative of a completely different branch of damage?

_No. Fiery and icy explosions speak for themselves, as do ones accompanied by flashing bolts of electricity. Most explosions have a blast wave, and getting smashed by compressed air counts as wind, while shrapnel embedding into your brain counts as various types of physical damage, depending on how it embeds. I'm saying that that specific explosion, created by the Pied Piper, is representative of a completely different branch of damage._

…Right. That leads to a whole new pile of issues with him. Why is he special?

_He just is._

Helpful as always, Lyra. Well, if he's special, why is he useless a large deal of the time?

_Look, while I could answer that, it would probably suit you more to hear it straight from his mouth._

…Eh? Can Personas talk?

_Well, yes. I thought you picked it up from that time he made some throwaway remark in Tartarus. Yes, your Personas can talk, but that doesn't mean they will. Sometimes they don't feel like it, or have nothing to say, but most of the time they'll be too busy exploding._

I guess I can try talk to him next time we hit Tartarus. Other questions… I don't suppose you'll help clarify the situation involving those large Shadows, would you?

_Nope._

Great. In that case, no more questions.

_Good. See you in approximately seven seconds._

Then I was falling again, through endless streams of black abyss…

I woke up in bed with a light start.

_Hey, again._

* * *

I paced nervously outside the hospital room. This was something I'd been meaning to get around to for close to two weeks, but now it was actually here, I had no idea how to go about it.

_Come on. She wasn't trying to kill you in Tartarus._

Yes, but that was probably because there were things there that made me look better than comparison.

_Look. Waiting around here second-guessing yourself isn't going to solve anything. You chickened out of this yesterday, and at this rate, you won't get this done until you've finished reading 'Persona Fusion for Dummies'. Just go and get all this out of the way, so we can get back to setting things on fire in Tartarus._

Yes, but… I still hesitated.

_Hey, do you remember that time, when there was that thing you didn't want to do, and I started making white noise inside your head?_

Wait, wha-

_Of course you don't, because it's right now. %$ ^%:;]]_

Okay, I get it!

I knocked on the door to Fuuka's hospital room, waited a few seconds, and entered.

The room was decorated in the same pale, inoffensive colours that every hospital room was decorated in. Four plain walls, a blank white ceiling, dull linoleum floor tiles, nothing of interest decorating the room… the only splash of colour was provided by Fuuka's teal hair.

She looked straight at me when I entered, clearly worried about something. "H-hello, Minato-san…"

"Hello." For a moment, I pondered making some small talk, to try make her less tense, before getting to the meat of the matter.

Then I concluded that as an arsonist and a purveyor of explosions, subtlety and gentle buildups were not my strong point. "Look, Fuuka-san. I came because I wanted to say sorry about the other day…"

"No!" she blurted out, before blushing slightly. "I mean… I'm the one who should be apologising…"

I scratched my brow. "Look, Fuuka-san. You didn't do anything wrong. I was the one who punched your… friend in the face. You were just looking out for her, right?"

"But…" Fuuka was still stringing the words together in her head. "I mean, even if you did, I shouldn't have gotten so angry! I mean, if I had just been calmer, then maybe it all would have worked out fine, and none of this…"

I interrupted her by clapping my hands together. "Just… stop. Why do you insist all of this is your fault?"

"Because it is! I'm weak, and I'm useless, and I can't help anyone, and…"

"None of what you said is true." Her eyes widened when I said that. "Remember what happened in that tower? You definitely helped all of us there. If you hadn't been there, we probably would have lost. You definitely proved your use there. And if you were weak, you definitely wouldn't have survived being locked in there for ten days, with no food or water. See? None of what you said is true."

"Minato-san…"

"Look. I'm not going to pretend to understand your thought processes. Our pasts have been way too different for that. And I'm not going to try guess where or when those thought patterns originated. I have no intention to stoop to the level of a psychologist. And I'm seriously not going to tell you to change who you are. That would be kind of like suppressing free will, and this isn't Soviet Russia. What I can do, though, is give advice. You can't go around blaming yourself for everything during your life, letting everybody trample all over you. At some point, you have to grit your teeth and stand up against the world, and just tell everyone and everything in your way to screw itself."

Quasi-inspirational speech done, Fuuka closed her eyes in thought. "I… I think I get what you're trying to say. But… I still need some time to think about it. I…"

"Take your time. Maybe when you get out of here, we can get back to trying to teach you how to cook?"

Her lips crept upwards. "I'd like that."

_**Crack.**_

_**The wrong thou hast created hath been rightened…**_

The Priestess card appeared again. Like when I'd reversed the Social Link, it flipped over, such that it now returned to its original, right-ways-up position.

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Priestess Arcana…**_

Sweet. Social problems fixed.

"Um…" Fuuka's voice caught my attention. "Can I ask… what actually happened that night?"

Well… "That would probably take a long time to explain, and Mitsuru and Akihiko would probably want to be the ones to tell it to you. The short version is that at night our school turns into functional hell, and we have to delve into its depths to stop everyone from dying."

Fuuka blinked. "Um…"

"Yes, I know it basically makes no sense, at least at first. Once you've seen it, it makes slightly more sense, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions. Try to avoid thinking about it too much."

She blinked again. "Um… okay."

A silence fell across the room.

I sighed. "I should probably let you get some rest, shouldn't I?"

Fuuka began shaking her hands rapidly. "Oh no, it's fine! I mean…" She let out a yawn before she could finish her sentence.

I chuckled. "You definitely look like you want some rest. And what did I say earlier?"

She took a moment, and nodded. "Okay."

"Get some rest, okay?" I gave a smile goodbye, and turned and started walking out of her room.

Just before I left, she called out again. "Um…"

I turned back. "Yes?"

Fuuka smiled. "Thank you again, Minato-kun."

* * *

Another school day passed by, largely without incident. The one thing that happened was pretty important, though. I had dragged Junpei with me to the chemistry labs to help me make my first batch of napalm, when we both received a text.

'Fuuka Yamagishi is being released from the hospital today. We'll talk to her this evening. Come to the Command Room this evening.'

And thus, that was why me, Junpei and Yukari were all waiting in the Command Room at eight p.m. that evening.

"I don't like this," Yukari spoke up.

Junpei arched an eyebrow. "Why? What's wrong?"

She began shifting around nervously. "Well… why do you think that Mitsuru-sempai saved Fuuka? Do you think that it was the right thing to do, or was she just being pragmatic? I think I heard her saying that we needed more Persona-users…"

"Don't be like that, Yuka-tan," Junpei said. "I mean, sure, Mitsuru is a real ice queen, but I still don't think she's that cold-hearted."

"…Junpei, please never make a pun like that again."

He sighed. "It was an accident, okay? Besides, you get what I mean."

Yukari still looked uncomfortable. "I guess, but…"

"Does it really matter?" I cut in. "We saved her, didn't we? Isn't that the most important thing? And besides, it's up to her now if she wants to join us or not."

"Still… what if she tries to push her too hard? She might think that she doesn't have any choice in the matter, and…"

"If she does, I promise that I will steal her bike and sell it for scrap. I have connections."

Yukari gave a light smile. "Maybe a bit extreme, but I appreciate the sentiment."

Any further conversation was broken off by four figures entering the room. The chairman was speaking as they entered.

"…And lastly, I would like to introduce you to Junpei Iori, Minato Arisato, and Yukari Takeba. All three are second-year students, like you. Everyone, this is Fuuka Yamagishi."

"Plea-pleased to meet you," she stammered.

Ikutsuki gave one of those odd chuckles of his. "Now, now, there's no need to be nervous. Why don't you take a seat?"

Fuuka gave a bow and sat down next to Yukari. Mitsuru took an armchair, while Akihiko, with all the seats taken, leant up against the wall.

"You have all done a marvellous job in uncovering the truth behind this case," Ikutsuki began again. "I also wished to inform you that all the girls hospitalised in this case have regained consciousness."

Fuuka gave an audible sigh of relief at that. "I'm… sorry that I made so many people worry."

Yukari's eyes widened. "Are you kidding? You were the victim. You shouldn't have to apologise about anything."

Fuuka flashed a quick glance in my direction. "I know, but still…"

"We could have lost that fight if you hadn't been there, Yamagishi," Mitsuru began, standing up to highlight her point. "You saved our lives, and you are allowed to feel good about yourself. You have a special power that you can help others." At around this point, Fuuka looked over at me again, perhaps pondering the similarity with the impromptu speech I'd made yesterday. Seemingly ignoring it, Mitsuru continued. "We call that power 'Persona'. You could be a great help to us. Will you lend us your strength?"

"Are you asking me to join you?" Fuuka asked. Mitsuru nodded.

Yukari chuckled nervously. "You know, we're not trying to pressure you or anything, you know, so yeah, feel free to take your time and think about it…"

"I'll do it!" Fuuka suddenly shouted. "I'll help you!"

Yukari blinked. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Someone once told me that you have to stand up against the world. I don't know if he had this in mind when he told me it, but I think it applies now."

Huh. By making that speech, I seemed to have achieved my goal of having Fuuka consider joining SEES completely by accident. Funny how things turn out.

_Yep. Things have consequences._

Yukari still continued to object. "Bu-but… if you join us, you know that you'll have to live here, right? I mean, you have a family, and…"

A shake of the head. "It's fine. I think I'd prefer to live here anyway."

Mitsuru smiled. "We really appreciate this. We will have the school talk to your parents, to clear up any final issues."

Yukari hadn't stopped looking concerned, though. "Hold on. Aren't we dragging her into this a bit fast?"

Fuuka gently shook her head. "It's fine, really. But… before I join… can I have a full explanation of what all this is about?"

Something glinted in Ikutsuki's eyes. "Well, then. Would you believe me if I told you that there were more than twenty-four hours in a day?"

* * *

His speech was basically the exact same speech as the one he'd given when I'd joined, complete with the exact same holes that I pointed out for Fuuka's benefit. At the end, he pulled out the customary briefcase: Evoker, armband, psychological profile, and memo to upgrade phone.

"Are all Shadows like the ones that we faced?" Fuuka asked. "If they are…"

"Do not worry," Ikutsuki reassured. "They are not. Most are smaller than a person, and cannot cause anywhere near the same amount of devastation.

"With that said, we must bring up the issue of these special, larger Shadows. I concede that we are unsure of where they came from, except that they were from outside Tartarus. Thus, we have no base from which to tackle the issues at their source. However, as Akihiko pointed out to me and (I am sure) others of you will have realised, their appearances seem to coincide with the full moon."

"Wait, so we're dealing with were-shadows now?" Junpei questioned.

We all took a moment to consider the merits of his query, before continuing as if he hadn't asked it. "They'll probably continued to appear on full moons," Akihiko said. "Knowing when to expect them will be a big advantage. On the day of the fight, we'll be ready."

"Excellent, Akihiko," Ikutsuki spoke. "Now, before you leave, there is one last thing I felt like I needed to bring to attention. I doubt it will be relevant for another few months, but I felt it was appropriate to give you a good deal of warning. It concerns this club's cover story."

"What, the 'Specialised Extracurricular Elocution Squad'?"

He nodded. "Indeed. As you may infer, for such a story to work, it is necessary for all of you to undertake some sort of public speaking role." Fuuka flinched at that, but he didn't seem to notice. "Mitsuru, Akihiko and Junpei all have their roles from last year, but for the rest of you, I intend to find something suitable given all of your natural dispositions. This will likely start some time during the summer break."

…Right. "Sorry, but what sort of place would want a known and unreformed firestarter?"

That glint in Ikutsuki's eyes appeared again. "Don't worry. I'll find something."

The meeting ended soon after. The chairman decided that as a 'team-building exercise', we all needed to stay up for Fuuka's first Dark Hour. I was already somewhat tired, so as soon as midnight hit, I politely excused myself and headed back to my room.

"What are you doing here?"

Of course, being able to just go straight to sleep would have been too simple. The strange boy was sitting on my bed again, and he was pouting.

"This is the third time, you know. I thought from last time you knew you needed to be more polite. Don't you remember?"

I frowned. "Well, I'm not sorry this time. I'm annoyed with you. Why didn't you tell me that there were two of them?"

The boy took some time to process this, before bursting into laughter. I frowned again. "What's so funny?"

His fit ended quickly, but he was still giggling as he began speaking again. "Do you remember what you said, earlier this evening? 'Does it really matter?' You prevailed in the end, didn't you? Isn't that what matters?"

I opened my mouth to speak, then closed it again. I couldn't argue with my own logic. But… "Wait, how do you know what I'd said?"

The boy began smiling again. "I told you before. I'm always with you, aren't I?" He suddenly stopped for a moment, as if frozen in thought. "You know, from where I am, I can see all the potential inside of you. I can also tell that your power is changing, even as we speak, and it will continue changing to the end. I'm very curious about you. Can I be your friend?"

A friend. Being a friend with a mysterious boy who may or may not have been entirely a figment of my imagination.

Well, if I could consider a voice in my head as a friend about half the time, this didn't seem too different. "Sure, I guess."

He chuckled. "Maybe you haven't had much say in this matter, and for that, I'm sorry. My name is Pharos. You may call me that if you wish."

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou art I… and I am thou…**_

A giant skull emblazoned on a grim-looking doorway, with a giant _XIII_ underneath. Not ominous or foreboding at all, no way.

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Death Arcana…**_

Death. Great. Yep, definitely not ominous.

The boy – Pharos – yawned. "It's getting late, isn't it? I think I should go now, but I'm already looking forward to our next meeting." He flashed a final smile goodbye before disappearing into thin air.

I was tired enough that I didn't really want to think any more about any of what just happened. I took a step forward, pitched over onto my bed, and fell asleep.


	18. Chapter 17

A/N: at the end of this chapter is something a little experimental for me. I'd like some feedback on how you readers like it.

* * *

"Isn't this illegal?"

It was lunchtime, and I'd borrowed Junpei for part two of experiments in napalm-making. Yukari had tagged along, mostly because there was something she wanted to discuss, and she was now staring somewhat incredulously at what was going on.

"Probably."

She sighed, resigned to ignoring a potential threat to national security. "Why did I even ask? Anyway, I wanted to talk to the two of you about Fuuka. What do you think of her?"

I started crumbling down some polystyrene pellets. "She's a good person, and she's a valuable addition to the team. Junpei, pass me a beaker."

"I think she's cute." Junpei put on cheesy grin, sliding the beaker over.

Yukari facepalmed. "Not what I meant, Stupei. I mean, I get that the team's better for having her, but still, I'm worried."

Junpei's grin only widened. "Oh, I see. Worried that she's gonna steal your precious Minato-kun away from you, then?"

I ignored that to pour out some hexane, while Yukari just facepalmed again, slightly harder. "_Not what I meant, Stupei_. Didn't you feel that Mitsuru might have put a bit too much pressure on her to join?"

Junpei shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I've seen Mitsuru turn the pressure up to eleven, and it usually involves a lot more pain, screaming, sharp objects, torture implements, and shellfish. Mitsuru's pragmatic, and she wants the mission to succeed, but she's not a demonic hellspawn."

I added my two cents. "I'm pretty sure that once the offer was on the table, Fuuka would have been joining us, no matter what. It might have taken a few more days, but the end result would have been the same."

Yukari shifted around. "That might be true, but… I hope Fuuka doesn't end up regretting it."

"Don't worry." I started dissolving the styrofoam into the liquid. "We aren't going to bully her, and she's probably going to have a better quality of life here than before. Even if she isn't cut out for Tartarus, I think that things will be better enough for her that she wouldn't regret this."

"Even if things end up too bad, we're a team, aren't we?" Junpei spoke. "I don't think any of us would be heartless enough to leave her behind."

Yukari smiled at that. "You two are better than you look at that whole speech thing the chairman was talking about. Can I count on you, then?"

We both nodded. "Yep."

"Thanks." She smiled again. "Sorry for bringing all that up out of the blue."

"Anyway…" Junpei began. The blatantly obvious attempt to change the subject sent alarm bells ringing. "Time to get serious. I need you two to do me a favour."

Yukari immediately narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "What's going on now?"

"Well, remember our plan for what would happen after Fuuka joined SEES?"

Yukari looked briefly lost in thought, so I intervened. "I believe your words were that you would 'sweep in and win her heart' or something like that."

Her eyes widened. "You were serious?"

I added a dash more fuel to help the foam dissolve. "Evidently, he was."

He tutted. "Of course I was serious. Junpei Iori, for one, is always serious about women. I swear that in one way or another, I will win her over!"

Yukari groaned. "Why are you telling us this?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Junpei's mouth widened into a devious grin, and he lifted a hand, almost like he was trying to emulate some mad scientist. "You're part of my plans! All I need from you is…"

"No."

He blanked for a moment. "Can you at least hear me out?"

Yukari had resorted to burying her face in her hands. "Stupei. After what we just talked about, about not wanting to make her regret joining us, do you really think I'll go along with whatever idiocy you have planned?"

"Well… maybe?… but… Minato, you'll help me out, right?"

"Perhaps." I popped another polystyrene chunk into the beaker. "I'm not sure what you've got in store, but I'm going to trust my girlfriend's judgement and conclude that your plan is wrong."

He spent several seconds twitching. "Come on, man! I thought you had my back!"

"I do, which is why I'm helping you at all. As Yukari pointed out, we don't want Fuuka coming to regret her stay with us. First things first: have you even talked to her yet?"

He scratched his head. "Well…"

…Really. "In that case, when you were making your 'plan', what was it based on? How did you know that anything you tried would have worked at all?"

He held his silence, slowly realising that yes, his plans were a complete mess.

I sighed, and handed the beaker and glass rod to Yukari. "Take over, and make sure that he doesn't end up drinking anything poisonous in despair or something."

She looked puzzled. "Where are you going?"

"Since our dear friend Junpei here clearly has no idea how to jump start a relationship, and leaving it to his own talents would only make things worse, I'm going to have to do it for him."

The brief walk to 2-E gave me more than enough time to flesh out the skeleton in my head. Knocking on the door, it was a few seconds before a girl with a black ponytail answered. "Hello… Oh, Arisato-san. How can I help you?"

"Hey, Iwasaki-san." I probably wasn't friendly enough to be on a first-name basis with her. "Same as last time. Is Fuuka Yamagishi in?"

She nodded. "She just came back today. Hold on a second." She darted back, leaving the door open. Inside, I caught sight of Fuuka, next to the girl whose name I still didn't know. The situation wasn't bad, however – the two of them seemed to be getting on in a friendly way, and it looked like she had learnt her lesson.

Rio tapped Fuuka on the shoulder and pointed her in my direction. She mumbled something to the other girl, before quickly walking over. "Hello, Minato-kun."

"Hey, Fuuka. I was wondering what you were planning on doing tonight."

She blinked. "Huh? Oh, Mitsuru-sempai said we would be preparing my room in the dorm. Did something come up?"

I needed to phrase this in the right way. "Nothing much. Me, Junpei and Yukari were just wondering if you had some free time, to get to know you better." Even if Yukari wanted nothing to do with this, mentioning her would probably help reassure Fuuka that there were no ulterior motives here. "If you're busy, then it's fine, but…"

"It's fine, Minato-kun. I'm sure that Mitsuru-sempai will understand. What did you have in mind?"

* * *

As expected, Yukari had a couple of viable excuses explaining why she had to pull out at the last minute, though she did promise Fuuka that they would have some girl-girl bonding time later. Junpei took the opportunity to make some sexual remarks, and Yukari responded by slapping him in the face. All in all, just your typical everyday exchange.

I'd wanted to arrange something that would be more in Fuuka's comfort zone than Junpei's, which was why I'd sorted things out for that evening: it was Friday, and Junpei had no idea how trading card games worked. I'd cunningly snuck off to the other side of the room, leaving Fuuka to explain the rules and help him make a semi-playable deck.

Honestly, it was kind of endearing to watch.

"The two of them look cute together. Did you set them up?" my homeroom teacher asked as she shuffled up her deck. For various reasons, neither of us had wanted to draft, so instead we had packed our casual decks. There was no feeling quite like winning with Barren Glory.

"Sort of. It was Junpei's idea. I'm just here to make sure he doesn't screw up too badly."

A smile appeared on her lips. "What's the worst that can happen?"

"I don't know, and I don't want to find out."

She chuckled. "It just fits, doesn't it? The night is young, the world is bright, and love – or something almost similar to it –" she added just as she saw Fuuka jab Junpei in the ribs for one reason or another "– is in the air. In short, a perfect time to be sitting indoors, playing games with your homeroom teacher."

The wonders of self-deprecating humour. "Only slightly less pathetic than doing it with one of your pupils."

A laugh. "Oh, you wound me. How can I ever face my class again?"

"Gather up enough rares and mythic rares, and take a bath in them. I always found that that helped."

A smirk. "I bet you'd like to see that, wouldn't you?"

I blinked. "I have a girlfriend. Also, isn't it a little inappropriate for you to be flirting with one of your pupils?"

"Please, Minato-kun. You're fun to tease. I'm not like _some_ teachers at school." For a brief moment, something that almost looked like hatred flashed behind her eyes, vanishing just as quickly as it appeared. "And anyway, outside of school, I'm not your homeroom teacher. I'm just a woman called Isako, that you met playing games."

I shrugged. "Whatever you say, Isako."

"Isako-_san _. Give me some respect."

"Sure. Anyway, I'm feeling like a gentleman, so I'll let you play first."

She perked up slightly at that, and then some more when she drew her opening hand. "I'll keep this."

My hand wasn't great, but acceptable. "Keep."

"Swamp, Dark Ritual, Necropotence."

"…I hate you."

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Hermit Arcana…**_

* * *

Nothing much happened on Saturday, other than a brief conversation with Junpei about the night before (him and trading cards did not mix, but he now apparently knew Fuuka well enough that he could 'manage by himself', which I found dubious at best; upon voicing these concerns, he proposed a competition to see who could 'get to third base the fastest', to which I responded by connecting my fist with his solar plexus).

On the other hand, something actually happened on a Sunday for once.

It started when someone called me at annoyingly early in the morning. I groggily answered it. "Hello?"

"Good morning, Minato-san," an almost irritatingly bright (considering the time of day) voice replied. "This is Elizabeth speaking."

"…I can tell. Why are you calling me?"

"I would like to request that you come by the Velvet Room at some point in the near future. There are some things I would like to discuss with you in person. That is all." Without any more explanation or waiting for a reply, she hung up on me.

Not quite wanting to deal with her quite yet, I went back to sleep for a few more hours. By the time I did roll out of bed, it was just shy of midday.

Mitsuru greeted me as I walked down to the lobby. "Good afternoon, Arisato." Yep, the clock had ticked its way past twelve. "Did you sleep well?"

I stifled half a yawn. "Mostly."

She smiled at that, clearly seeing through my paper-thin façade. "Don't strain yourself today, Arisato. I informed everyone else earlier, but we will be venturing into Tartarus tonight, so Yamagishi can gain some experience."

I nodded. "Sure." That reminded me – my flamethrower would be done soon, so that was another reason to see Elizabeth.

Mitsuru gave a final smile and nod of acknowledgement, before turning back to the book in her lap. It quickly became clear that no flowing conversation was forthcoming, so I made myself a sandwich and headed out.

Part of me did question the large quantity of scaffolding and construction materials in the alley outside the room, but I guessed that a neighbouring building was responsible for something or other.

That guess went out the window as soon as I entered. "Erm… wow."

Elizabeth grinned as I entered. "Welcome to the Velvet Room, Minato-san. In your absence, I took the opportunity to redecorate."

"I can see that."

The room was shaded in the same soothing, flowing tones of gentle blue. That was the only thing that was the same. Gone were the chairs, the sofa, the coffee table, the spinning clock, the odd walls like a moving lift. It looked like Elizabeth had torn them all down, as the new room was about twenty times the size of the old one. The floor was largely empty, but for a grand piano (and a drum kit, and several guitars, and about two thirds of a full symphonic orchestra) on a raised section, and a rather large and well-stocked bar next to a heavy-looking door. The walls were covered in a patchy wallpaper that somehow managed to be both monochromatic and psychedelic at the same time, and the ceiling… "Why did you put the carpets on the ceiling?"

She giggled. "How much do you remember of our foray into a nightclub?"

"Nothing whatsoever."

"The answer to that question can be found in that time you have forgotten. I certainly remember it well. Indeed, that was what inspired me to commence these redecorations."

"Right…" I mumbled, not certain if I wanted to remember how I ended up with a traffic cone lodged onto my head. "Is this what you wanted to show me, then?"

"Yes, but…" She stopped to pout. "I believe that something is missing. While I am uncertain of what it is, I can tell that this room is, as of yet, missing some sort of 'wow factor'. In truth, that was why I called you. Could you spare me some time for me to see the outside world again?"

I blinked. "How is this meant to help you find what's missing?"

"Well, clearly the thing I seek has to transcend the bounds of normality, or else I would have found it by now, am I correct? By fully engaging my conscious mind with the mundane aspects of reality, my subconscious can activate and delve into the mysteries of the universe, finding what I seek. My logic is impeccable."

…I had no idea where to start questioning her reasoning, so I didn't. "Fine. Where do you want to go?"

"Well, prior to our last excursion to the outside world, you mentioned a place… Iwatodai Station, was it? I would like to see why you thought this place was worthy of such attention."

I paused. The reason I'd suggested the station in the first place was that at that time of day – after school ended, before people came off work – it would have been mostly empty, and we could have avoided a lot of odd looks. At early afternoon on a Sunday, though… I attempted to think of some sort of excuse, but then she made that sad puppy face again, and I found myself nodding in agreement.

This flaw was highlighted almost as soon as we arrived.

"I have heard of these legendary 'Flowing Stairs', but I never expected to behold them with my own eyes… seemingly simple, and yet one false step would leave a passenger mired in the most bitter of ordeals. Truly, they are a masterful test of one's skills!"

Before I could say anything, she shot off and started walking up the down escalator. If it wasn't already obvious, the station was busy. Not cramped or suffocating, but busy. That did mean that there was a continuous flow of people trying to come down the same escalator. Also, the escalators were only wide enough for one person.

Several shouts, shunts, insults, trips, falls, wounds and a canned order over loudspeakers later, Elizabeth returned, flanked by two security guards. "Truly, that was a magnificent experience, Minato-san. I am only sorry that you did not choose to partake in it with me."

One of the guards grunted. "Are you with her?"

"…Sort of?"

Another grunt. "Make sure that she doesn't do anything like that again. You're lucky that no-one's trying to sue."

They walked away, leaving me with Elizabeth. "Now, Elizabeth…"

"Oh! What is this?" And like that, she shot off, leaving me flat-footed. I gritted my teeth and walked after her, ignoring the odd looks from all around me.

A near-miss with the construction workers' union (Elizabeth, inspired by a 'DO NOT ENTER' sign, had attempted to push a random worker into a work pit, claiming she was responding to 'humanity's craving to do the forbidden') and several more incidents with security (after that, Elizabeth had a sudden urge to aid the authorities, leading to her attempting to frisk passersby for 'dangerous goods', leading to a lot of complaints) later, we were forcibly ejected from the station. "Well, there's nothing left for us here. Should we… Elizabeth?"

Her face was furrowed in deep concentration. "That… fragrant aroma… it can't… it can't be!" She ran off again, straight towards a nearby takoyaki stand.

I caught up to the last few words of the conversation between her and the vendor. "Whoa! You can tell our secret ingredient just by the smell?"

I frowned. "Isn't takoyaki meant to be, you know, octopus?"

The vendor laughed. "Well, there's no law requiring it, is there? I thought I'd jazz up the standard formula. Change it up to something a bit different. Make it so good, you'd smile so wide that your cheeks would fall off!"

That quirked Elizabeth's interest. "Oh? It must be possible for me to experience this phenomenon, no matter what the cost." She reached into a pocket.

Alarm bells rang.

She pulled out of her special anti-physics wallets.

She opened it.

She prepared to pour.

"Wait!" I shouted, before mentally facepalming as I got a few odd looks. "Takoyaki isn't that expensive, Elizabeth. You won't need all of that money."

"Hmm? Oh. It appears a package is only four hundred yen…" Her face fell, and I briefly felt like I'd kicked a baby seal. She quickly cleared her throat and regained the composure to send that away, though. "Ahem. Two plates of takoyaki, please."

As an observation, Elizabeth eats at approximately seven times the normal speed for a human being. This was very disconcerting, as she still looked incredibly composed as she did so. No shovelling, plenty of chewing, all the proper etiquette, just inhumanly fast.

She gently dabbed the corners of her mouth when she was done. "There can be no doubt. That aroma, the distinct texture, the firm skin… this is exactly what I think it is."

I popped another ball in my mouth. "And that is?"

She grinned wickedly. "Something which, for the interests of public order and safety, must be kept secret. It is certainly not something which I expected to even be allowed in food."

I stopped chewing. A thousand dark ideas came into my mind. "Is… is it people?"

Elizabeth laughed. "Oh, do not worry. While human meat has a similar aroma when cooked well, the texture is completely different. No, you are not eating your brethren. The truth is far more insidious."

I nervously swallowed. "Okay. While I do want to know, I also know that it's probably in the best interest for my continued sanity if I stay in the dark about this."

"Indeed, that much is true, Minato-san. For this, you should indeed stay away from the light… light?… light! Minato-san, I know what the room was missing!" She bolted upright, and started sprinting away. I sighed, rolled my eyes and started back to the Velvet Room, leaving the rest of my box of god-knows-what behind.

"Erm… wow."

I could see how Elizabeth's train of thought had developed, but this was still a surprised.

"I am glad to see you made it, Minato-san. How do you like the new lighting arrangements?"

"Erm…" The lights before had been unremarkable – I hadn't even realised that there were lights. Now, though… "Rave lighting. I have no idea what to make of this."

Elizabeth smiled, as her face turned from red to indigo to cyan to viridian to sienna all in the space of a second. "Do not worry, Minato-san. It will grow on you."

Somehow, I doubted that. "We'll see. Is there anything else you needed today?"

"Actually, there was something I wanted to give you, as a token of thanks. Please, come with me." She lightly pranced through the side door. I noted the label ('Management Office') and followed.

"Huh." Inside was a complete replica of the old Velvet Room, weird upwards motion and all. I pondered how I could be moving up here and not on the other side of the door, before deciding that it was just another thing that made little sense around me. "So is all that out there a big extension?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "No, no. The logistics would never allow it. This is all new, completely rebuilt to be exactly the same. I need to keep up appearances if the master decides to visit, after all."

Right. "Where is Igor, anyway?"

As usual with most of why questions, she just laughed and gave knowing wink, leaving an unsatisfactory answer behind. "Anyway, I wished to give you this."

She pulled out a heavy book. "I give you the Book of the Ancients. The collective wisdom of Ancient Egypt is at your disposal."

That was actually pretty cool. "Thank you, Elizabeth." I took the book, brushed the dust away, opened it up, and…

Hieroglyphics. Everything was written in hieroglyphics. "You knew about this, didn't you?"

Elizabeth giggled. "Of course, Minato-san. But even if you are forever unable to read it, it will at least permit you to fuse Thoth, the ancient God of Wisdom."

That was a decent consolation, at least. "Very well. I thank you for this gift."

"And again, I thank you for a most enjoyable day."

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Sun Arcana…**_

"Oh, and before I go. Is my flamethrower ready yet?"

* * *

"_Fuuka… Fuuka…"_

"_Why the hell is she here?!"_

"_Moriyama-san!"_

"_What are you doing? It's dangerous!"_

"_You have to get out of here, Moriyama-san! It's not safe!"_

"_Fuuka… I wanted to say… sorry…"_

"_Moriyama-san…"_

"_Behind you!"_

"_Don't worry. I'll protect you."_

"_Wait, that's not a –"_

"_I know."_

_An evoker cracks, and she emerges. Her body is large and envelops the girl, but she looks delicate. Blonde hair, white dresses, bandages around the eyes – none of it looks like a figure made to fight._

"_**I am Lucia. I see for those who cannot."**_

_She stands there for a moment, while the Emperor approaches, death in its eyes._

_The sound of an engine breaks the air._

* * *

Pieced together from everyone's accounts, that was roughly how Fuuka first summoned her Persona. From that, the events of that night, and some further experiments that she did while we weren't looking, Mitsuru had concluded that Fuuka would be more suited that her to stay back and provide support for everyone, so she could rejoin us on the front lines.

Also, as a note, we didn't need earpieces any more, as Fuuka was telepathic. No idea why, but it was slick. I imagine the others might have found an echoing voice in their head to be unsettling at first, but they quickly accepted it. "Now I know how you feel," Junpei joked.

We hadn't been expecting much. Go in, tear up a few shadows, run away from death if necessary – just the normal stuff. We didn't want to strain Fuuka too much on her first night, and we had half-expected the impenetrable barrier to still be there (it wasn't, but that was besides the point).

It quickly became apparent that Tartarus exploration was not suited for five or more people.

"Arisato." The tone of her voice was borderline lethal.

I swallowed very nervously. "I swear I didn't mean it! It was an accident!"

A glare. "Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence. But three times? Do you have a problem with my leadership, Arisato?"

Gulp. "No, Mitsuru. Sempai."

She gritted her teeth, and turned to the others. "How did you three managed to avoid this?"

Junpei shrugged. "We let him run off on his own, mostly, and we just sorta hung out behind him and picked up the rest. We were behind him almost the whole time."

"Also," Akihiko added, "five people don't fit into these hallways anywhere near as easily. With four of us, we could get out of the way much quicker."

Mitsuru took a moment to ponder through everything. "Very well."

And thus, approximately two minutes later, I was back in the lobby, facing a somewhat confused Fuuka. "Minato-kun? Why are you back here?"

"Don't you know already?"

She seemed to flinch. "Sorry… I was too focussed on when those Shadows kept catching Mitsuru with their fire attacks that I didn't notice."

Eheheheh…

"Minato-kun? Why are you making that face?"

Well… "Those Shadows? That… that sort of was me?"

She paused. "I don't understand…"

"I… might have set Mitsuru on fire a couple of times. By accident, but… yeah."

A longer pause. "What?"

I sighed. "Do you see this?" I waved around my new flamethrower. "I wanted to see if it was working well, and I might have been a bit… overzealous. Nothing major, and Yukari managed to patch up the damage, but… it was my bad."

"Oh."

An awkward silence descended, as neither of us had any idea of what to say next.

The silence continued as Fuuka went back to monitoring the situation in Tartarus. It left me standing there aimlessly, unsure what to do.

Actually, there was one thing I wanted to do. "Fuuka, I'm just going to go up to the fifth floor for a moment, okay?"

She made some sort of noise that might have been confirmation, or might have been a migraine forming. I took it as a yes and teleported up, before cocking my Evoker. "Pied Piper."

A pull of the trigger, and he appeared, dressed in the same black and white as always. One quick ditty later, and he was gone again.

I probably should have expected that.

"Okay, mister," I spoke out loud. "When I summon you this time, you are not going to do that again. This time, when you appear, you are going to stay still and answer my questions. Is that clear?"

On summoning, he reappeared with a disapproving frown on his face. **"If I must."**

That… actually worked. Honestly, I'd half expected him to just blow up on me or something. There was something else, though – no, this time, he also felt more… tangible. More real. It was a difficult sensation to describe, but it was definitely there. "Right. Who are you?"

"**Isn't it obvious? I'm the Pied Piper of Hamelin. I went to a village, drove away their rats, and stole their children when they didn't pay. Is that the answer you were looking for?"**

"No. I meant…" Urgh. "I guess I meant to ask, why are you so different to all the rest of my other Personas? You don't explode, and you can do that special explosion-thing, but you also seem to be mostly useless. Why?"

"**I am, no arrogance meant, special."**

Really? That's your answer? "I know that. Why are you special?"

The Pied Piper smirked. It was infuriating. **"I'm the orchestra's principal flute. I'd say that that makes me special."**

"…What you just said makes no sense."

"**Do you even know what makes up an orchestra? At the very least, you have all your strings, then your woodwind, brass, percussion, probably a piano, and your conductor. I lead the woodwind. That's why I'm principal flute."**

"Why are you talking about orchestras? You're still speaking no sense."

"**You asked me why I'm special. That's it."**

I facepalmed. "What's 'it'? Can you just give me a straight answer?"

"**Are you really so dense as to be unable to connect the dots? Very well. I'll explain. I'm the principal flute and the leader of the woodwind section of your orchestra."**

"…My orchestra?"

"**You heard correctly. Yes, you have an orchestra, and a rather large one at that. Unfortunately, most of the players have no musical talent and are completely uninterested, but when we performed together as a unit, the sound was magnificent." **

This still made no sense. "How can I have an orchestra? I've spent the last ten years moving around from place to place. I'm pretty sure I'd know if I had about fifty musicians running around behind me."

"**Actually, it's about two hundred musicians, give or take twenty. As to where it actually is, where did I come from?"**

"You came out of… my head…"

"**You've got it."**

I slowed down, struggling to get my head around it. "You're telling me that there is an orchestra in my head."

"**Yep."**

That, at the very least, was difficult to believe and harder to comprehend. "But… how?"

"**It should be clear. All the other musicians are like me."**

Blink. "Are you saying, that my Personas…"

"**Are all musicians in your orchestra? Basically. But as I said, most of them have no musical talent and are there to fill up the numbers. In fact, most of them are there unwillingly, and the only reason they haven't walked out on us is that we made them sign a massive pile of contracts and closed all the loopholes. That's part of the reason they explode."**

…Well, at least it sort of explained, however badly, where my Personas came from. Even so, it raised a lot more questions. "What's the other part of the reason?"

The Pied Piper chuckled at that. **"That's simple. Again, no arrogance meant, but they're not us."**

"…Who's 'us'?"

"**The ones that actually like being in the orchestra. You don't realise it, but your orchestra was incredibly important to you. We had the most investment in it, so when all this started and you got dragged here, we decided to pop along with you. All the others stayed behind. We're the real deal."**

I blinked. "That doesn't really answer my question."

The Pied Piper sighed. **"Consider most of your Personas. Try that dancer – Apsaras, or something. When you summon her, she's not real. She's a representation of one of those nymphs, and a good one at that, but she's still not the real deal – a façade, if you will. The real one is back with everyone else in your orchestra. That's the case with most of them. Because they're far away and don't really care, they explode. On the other hand, consider me here. Right here, right now, I'm real. I'm the real Pied Piper, the world's most well-respected serial kidnapper. As in, I actually walked into Hamelin with my flute here all of god-knows-how-long ago. I'm the actual being who did that. That's what I mean when we're the real deal."**

…What. "That's… hard to believe. I mean…"

"**Okay, maybe I exaggerated by a lot. At the moment, I'm still a Persona, and so still a representation, not entirely real. The point is, because I care and I'm nearby, I'm a hell of a lot more real than all the others. Something to do with power interference and stability issues and all sorts of weird things that nobody except our boss really understands. They result in me not exploding and having a bit more physical presence, which I can further turn up if I need some finer control like in this conversation. It makes sense if you don't think about it too hard."**

Well, maybe that why he felt a bit more solid than usual. However, this line of questioning was turning my brain to sludge, so I elected to change the subject. "So, how many of you are there? The non-explody ones, I mean."

"**There are six of us. There's me, the strings guy, the percussionist, the drummer, the trumpeter, the pianist, and the conductor leading it all. Basically, one for each of the bits of the orchestra I mentioned earlier."**

Right. "Who are they?"

He shrugged. **"You'll meet them all at some point. In fact, you've definitely met your trumpeter. He wasn't meant to come around yet, but he's trigger happy and likes blowing things up, so that stuff that happened on the roof? All his fault. We chewed him out for that, but he'll turn up again eventually. For the record, even if it was just a representation of me, having him burst out like that wasn't pleasant. Who else…**

"**Right. Your drummer. I think you've met him as well, but he's our equivalent of an internet troll, so you probably don't realise it. Last time I check, strings was being all mopey and numb, while our pianist was taking a long nap, so I doubt you'll meet them for a while. And none of us can even understand how the conductor thinks, so we have no idea where he's got to, but he'll also show up. On his terms."**

I sighed. That had been a lot of information, all too quickly. It needed time to digest. "Three last things. One: why are you useless most of the time?"

He rolled his eyes. **"Why did I kidnap a town's worth of children? I'm bitter because I haven't been paid. Our last performance was ten years ago, and I haven't been paid since. I still see that I need to help you, or else I'm never going to get paid again, but I'm still somewhat petty, especially when I haven't seen you to your full potential yet."**

Not the answer I expected, but it was an answer, and an understandable one at that. "Two: is this going to change anything?"

He thought the question over for a moment. "**Not for now. When we're all together, then stuff will probably happen, but until then? You're stuck with me, drummer-boy – if he decides to stop being annoying – and all the exploding representations. So no, not much is going to change, at least for now."**

"Okay. And lastly: why does this orchestra even exist in the first place?"

A chuckle escaped his lips. **"Don't ask me. It was your son's idea."**

Any sense I was making of this flew out of the window. My son? No. I would know if I had any offspring, and I could safely say that the answer was no. "Just… go away."

"**Your call, boss."**

Silence reigned as soon as he disappeared. For a few minutes, I stood there, slowly trying to process all that had been said.

All that I achieved was tying my brain into several deep knots.

You know what? Forget it. Forget everything. I'm in Tartarus, with a new flamethrower. That much spoke for itself.

The rest of the Dark Hour flowed easily from there.

* * *

Omake: Lyra's useful notes on Magic: the Gathering.

_Magic: the Gathering is a trading card game. It is not something that particularly interests me, and as such I tend to zone out whenever Minato decides to play. With that said, I have still picked up a few things from the years inside his head. These are my notes._

_Wizards of the Coast: the company responsible for printing the game of Magic. Also responsible for Dungeons and Dragons. Make of them what you will._

_Richard Garfield, PhD.: the man responsible for creating the game of Magic. Held in an almost god-like stance by the players of the game, such that addressing him by any name and title other than 'Richard Garfield, PhD.' is liable to get you assaulted by an angry fan of the game._

_Booster Pack: the main method for obtaining new trading cards. Fifteen pieces for cardboard wrapped up in foil, approximately none of which you want and only one of which has any monetary worth at all._

_Mythic Rare: a rarity of trading card, only introduced to Magic in 2008. Supposedly, they appear in booster packs, but they will never appear in the ones you open. If you want them, you'll have to buy them individually. Fortunately, the average mythic rare tends to be on the lower end of the price range for Magic cards, only costing around half of your immortal soul._

_Barren Glory: a Magic card. One of many cards that automatically win the game, provided certain conditions are met. With this card in particular, satisfying these conditions often involves losing the game several turns earlier, rendering it largely useless._

_Swamp: perfect for hiding the bodies._

_Dark Ritual: a Magic card. Please note that, to my knowledge, Wizards of the Coast does not condone or endorse worship of Satan, Beelzebub, Lucifer, Baphomet, Cthulhu, Hastur, Shub-Niggurath, Erebus or any other demonic or otherwise malevolent deities in any way. On the other hand, they do not officially endorse sacrifices made in the name of Richard Garfield, PhD., but they will silently approve._

_Necropotence: a very powerful Magic card, almost unbeatable and capable of winning games by itself. Playing it on turn one is a sure way to lose friends._


	19. Chapter 18

A/N: Huh. Sometime since the last update, this story of mine somehow crept over the mark for ten thousand views. I have no idea when or how, but it's good to know that I'm probably doing something right.

I'd like to thank all my readers, especially those who followed, favourited or left a review, without whom this likely would have been discarded any time I even got a modicum of writer's block. Feel free to stew on this chapter over Christmas and (since the next update won't be out by then) New Year's. Enjoy.

* * *

Following the events of that night, and in the interest of 'team dynamics' and 'group safety', Mitsuru took me off of the Tartarus exploration team again. Also, I now owed her a new designer shirt. Those things were expensive.

At least I'd spent the fifteen or so minutes before that clearing my head. That warm glow from burnt Shadows managed to help smooth it all over – if my mind had still been clogged up by assorted comments about orchestras and musicianship, I probably would have set her on fire again.

The next few days were uneventful. Eventually, partially out of boredom but more because of no real significant reason, I felt like going to the gym. The final bell rang, I changed into some sports kit, and headed up. It was like Rio had said: it was almost completely empty. Only one person was up there.

"Hey, Iwasaki-san."

She startled slightly at my voice. "Arisato-san? Huh. I didn't actually expect you'd ever turn up."

I gave a shrug. "I felt like it."

There was a brief pause, as she briefly took some time to think of a response to politely keep the conversation going. "I see."

A heavy silence took hold over the room, though I didn't blame her for it. If I had to deal with someone who everyone thought was a complete psychopath, I wasn't sure what I would say, either. I was perfectly content to let the silence stay.

"The weather's nice, isn't it?"

And we're already scraping the bottom of the barrel of viable conversation topics. "Look, Iwasaki-san. I'm not unaware of all the rumours flying around about me. You don't have to feel pressured to make any awkward conversation. It's as painful for me as it is for you." Without waiting for a reply, I hopped on a treadmill and started running.

I always zoned out somewhat when running. Time lost most of its meaning, and it became step by step by step. Eventually, someone touched me on the shoulder. Past experience dictated that it was probably a policeman who had caught up with me, so I did the thing that came most naturally: I froze, pivoted and attempted to suckerpunch the person in the stomach.

Don't ever stop moving while on a treadmill. It never ends well.

I carefully picked myself up from the floor, all too aware of the ringing in my ears and of a new set of bruises. Rio was standing there, looking somewhat sheepish. "Sorry I startled you."

I shook out some of the pain in my limbs. "Stuff like that happens. What did you need?"

She looked puzzled. "Wait, you can't hear it?"

I shook my head. "My ears are ringing too much. I can't really hear anything over it –" Unless the ringing… "Wait, isn't that the fire alarm?"

"You noticed? Good. We should probably go."

It wasn't the sports building that was on fire, so there was no mad rush of panic or fear or imminent death. Most of the students had already left, so it was a smallish contingent that gathered up on the track field.

Almost everyone looked at me as soon as I arrived. "What did the crazy guy do this time?" They might not have actually said it, but it was obvious on their faces.

I sighed. "This time, it wasn't me," I spoke out to no-one in particular. "I've got an airtight alibi. I was in the gym the whole time. If you want backup, you can ask Iwasaki-san here. She was also there."

The inquisitive mob turned its attention to Rio. Their question didn't need expressing. She swallowed a gulp. "Well, he is telling the truth…"

That got me out of jail easily enough. Lacking their usual scapegoat, everyone began talking amongst themselves, creating wild theories with even less credibility than usual.

"Maybe they're working together?"

"No, it can't be. The feminist conspiracy would never allow it."

"Lizards. Lizard people and the Illuminati. That has to be it."

"How did you do it?"

I paused for a moment. That last one hadn't been from the crowd. I turned to the source of the voice. "Do what? I didn't burn anything down."

Rio sighed. "No, I didn't mean… back in the gym. You were running for over half an hour straight, and you didn't even notice the fire alarm, or me calling your name about twelve times. How did you do it?"

It was an odd question, but not a pointless one. "It's just a question of the right mindset, isn't it? Focus and grit, with some determination, and you can basically do most things."

She seemed… taken aback by my response. "Do you really believe that?"

"Yep." Even if, for me, 'most things' consisted of little more than setting stuff on fire to calm my mood. And trading card games. "Well, maybe you also need a bit of luck." And probably also a distinct lack of executions to go along with it, and maybe a helpful voice in your head to talk you into various bad judgements, but those wouldn't make sense given out of context.

A long pause. A very long pause. I looked up to check whether Rio had got bored and wandered off, only to see her still standing there, with some sort of incredibly blank, unreadable expression on her face, as if just about everything had been drained from her.

"Iwasaki-san? Are you still there?" I briefly wondered what would happen if she'd died while standing next to me. Obviously, most of the blame would get lumped straight onto me. They'd probably guess I did something with poison or concealed blades, and when the autopsy discounted all those theories, they'd make up something even less believable. Ah, the wonders of closed belief systems.

"I'm sorry."

Right, she wasn't actually dead. Also, why was she apologising? "What about?"

Rio started pacing about anxiously, chewing away at her lower lip. "Before we met, I had no idea what to make of you. I'd listened to the rumours, and I'd just sort of assumed they were true, and you were like, an evil demonic overlord who set fire to puppies or something."

What. "Since when did the rumours say I tortured small animals for fun? That's just… no."

"Erm… I think it started when people started saying you tried to burn down the shrine, and someone pointed out that a dog lived there, and… it sort of spiralled from that. Look, so originally, I admit that I didn't think much of you. And sure, after I saw you sprawled out on the floor after Akihiko-sempai's training session, and when you came to my classroom and were looking out for Yamagishi-san, it helped show that you were a bit more of a person, but still… I guess I still thought of you as half-demonic or something?"

Right. "And now, I suppose you've changed your mind."

She winced. "Yeah… I mean, it seems obvious and tacky to say, but you're not on some whole other axis of being. You're human, like us. You have your own goals and motivations, and sure, you're a pyromaniac or something, but you've got to have your reasons, right? I shouldn't have thought of you in the way I did. I'm sorry."

Interesting. While this change of heart did partially feel like it was coming out of thin air, expressing that wouldn't help anything. "I appreciate the sentiment, Iwasaki-san. It's good to know that fewer people are treating me as a complete pariah."

She let out a breath that she probably didn't notice she'd been holding. "Look, Arisato-san… can I call you Minato-san instead? Calling you by your surname just feels a bit impersonal, and I want to avoid thinking that way."

I shrugged. "I'm not really one for formalities. Whatever you want, Rio-san."

She smirked at that. "I see what you did there, Minato-san. Again, I'm sorry for not really thinking of you as a human being, and even if we're not exactly friends, I hope that we can at least be friendly."

And there's the slightly backhanded comment that I doubt she realises she's making. I brushed it aside; friendship doesn't just happen in one day. I stuck out a hand. "That would be good."

She took it.

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Chariot Arcana…**_

* * *

The fire had gutted much of the science department on the third floor. It had started in the chemistry lab; apparently, someone had attempted to dissolve polystyrene in white spirit, used their incredible knowledge of science and sciencey things to conclude that it needed to be heated, and applied a Bunsen burner.

While the only person with the means, motive and opportunity (and lack of basic common sense) was obvious enough, I wasn't going to sell him out. After saying a vague farewell to Rio, I headed back to the dorm by myself.

I got back surprisingly early, considering the gym time and all the delays because of the fire. The only person there was Fuuka, scrabbling around in the kitchen, albeit slighty surprised at my arrival. "Welcome back, Minato-kun," she greeted me.

"Hey, Fuuka," I replied, taking a seat at the table. "What're you making?"

She let out a small, slightly nervous smile. "Umm… not much, really. I was just getting some cooking practice in."

"Well, if you're practicing cooking, then you're still making something, right?" I teased. "Come on. It can't be that bad."

_Hey, remember those cookies which managed to burn off the top layer of your tongue? Sometimes, I wonder if you've really managed to suppress all your inherent death wishes._

Shut up, Lyra.

"Well… I'm trying to make some chocolate truffles, but I'm not sure if they're good…"

Like before, I'm probably going to regret this. "Hey, that's what I'm here for, right?"

Fuuka smiled again. "If you're sure… thanks, Minato-kun." She pulled out a tray of large, irregular spheroid objects from the fridge. "Here. I improvised with the recipe a bit – I made them a bit larger. People say bigger is better, don't they? I hope they turned out okay."

They were slightly too large to just pop into the mouth and chew. I carefully picked one up. Nothing on the outside screamed of voracious inedibility, but I gave it a sniff, just in case. "It smells a little unusual…"

Fuuka bit her lip. "Well, I thought a teaspoon of liqueur wouldn't be enough, so I added half a cup. I thought this one would be the best." She dug out a bottle out of the cupboard and held it up proudly.

Beat.

"You know that bottle says rice vinegar, right?"

Beat.

Fuuka's mind seemed to have experienced a fatal runtime error.

Beat.

I'm going to regret this.

I steeled my nerves and took a bite.

The warm sweetness of the sugars, the grounded bitterness of the cocoa, the gentle, soothing, melting texture as the subtleties blended together – all of it was brutally murdered by the acrid stab of vinegar. From the last time I tried her cooking, with what she fed the cat, she seemed to have regressed.

I carefully walked over to the sink and threw up.

* * *

"I'm hopeless, aren't I? I always thought that some homemade food would help people relax, which is why I tried, but still… nothing goes right."

It had taken at least half an hour, but Fuuka had finally finished apologising about her mistake. With the help of an ice pack, several glasses of water and some baking powder, I had also just about recovered.

I sighed. "It's not hopeless. That was still marginally more edible than the first cookies you made."

"That's exactly it, isn't it?" she wailed. "We've been going at this for three whole weeks, and I've hardly improved at all! Everything I make is still awful…"

"In your defence, one-and-a-half of those weeks were spent locked in a tower, with no way to get out."

She shook her head. "Sorry. Thank you for trying to help, and for eating all the horrible things I made, but I don't think I can carry on."

I blinked. "But you love cooking, don't you? Just last week, you said that you wanted to get back to learning how to cook. What happened?"

She slumped forward in her chair. With just a shake of her head, she gestured towards the fridge.

This felt ominous. Nervously, I walked over and opened the fridge, to see endless rows upon rows of brown ellipsoids. Some were large, some were small, some were light, some were dark, some were perfectly smooth, others were lumpy.

It didn't take a genius to guess that all of them were inedible.

"I…" she stammered. The tension in her voice was worrying. "Before we started again, I wanted to show you that I'd improved, at least a bit. But… but… nothing worked. I failed. I kept failing. No matter what I did, no matter how much I changed from the recipe, even when I followed it to the letter, something always went wrong. I always made a mistake, and… you can see. I… I…"

She looked to be on the verge of tears. I quickly struggled to think of something encouraging or reassuring to say, but before I could…

"'Sup, dudes!" Junpei proudly announced his return to the dorm. His eyes immediately darted to the tray of 'truffles' on the kitchen table. "Hey, did one of you make these?"

Fuuka seemed to have gone completely limp, and made no sign to respond.

"Fuuka made them," I answered. Of course I was still worried about her, but one of us had to answer him.

"Sweet. Can I have one?" he quickly asked back.

"They're… not very good…" Fuuka mumbled. "I… don't think you should eat them…"

"Aw, come on. They can't be that bad, right?"

Yes. Yes, they can. They will inflict pain and damages upon you so great, that you will rue the day that you ever tasted chocolate for the first time.

…Damage. Huh. That… that was an idea. Sure, it was a terrible one, and it probably wouldn't work, and when it failed it would probably crush Fuuka's cooking spirits so badly that she wouldn't be able to look at a steak knife without collapsing, but it could provide an incentive for her to keep cooking, and on the off chance it did work and the best-case scenario happened, the payoff could be enormous.

_For once, I don't actually know what you've got planned. This should be interesting._

All it needed was some incredibly fuzzy logic, and a voluntary test subject. "Don't worry, Junpei. She's just being modest. Tuck in."

Fuuka's eyes widened dramatically, and her mouth dropped open, but Junpei had already said his thanks and popped a chunk of truffle into his mouth.

It was all I could do to not fall over in laughter at the expressions on his face.

Junpei haphazardly scrambled to the sink and threw up.

* * *

"Dude, that was not cool."

"Consider it as some sort of justice for what you did after school today." He tried to protest the accusation, but I gave the best 'I know' glare that I could, and he quickly shut up.

Fuuka had returned to staring at the floor, still dejected. "I'm sorry you had to taste something so bad, Junpei-kun…"

In a split-second, his demeanour completely changed. "Well, it wasn't that bad. It's a lot better than the worst things I've eaten."

"That's a complete lie, and you know it." I'd need to be incredibly tactless for this plan to work.

Junpei facepalmed. "I was just trying to spare some of her feelings, you know?"

I nodded. "Yep. I tried earlier, and it didn't work."

Fuuka forced on another weak smile. "It's alright. Now you can both see how bad I am."

Time for the main event. "Maybe we're looking at this in the wrong direction."

She blinked a few times. "I don't get it…"

"You know how people should try play to their strengths, right? Clearly, we can see that cooking edible food is not one of them. What you are good at, however, is cooking completely inedible food."

"This isn't cool," Junpei warned with a hiss. "Why are you saying this?"

"Just wait 'til I'm done, okay?" I shot back. "Now, you may reasonably ask as to why we would want such inedible food. After all, we saw what effect it had on our dear friend Junpei here. However, is there not a foe that we all share, against whom such debilitating effects could prove exceedingly useful?"

They both got it at the same time. "Are you really suggesting…?"

"Yes. I am proposing that we weaponise Fuuka's cooking for use against the Shadows."

* * *

I ran the proposal by everyone else as they came back. All of them were skeptical that something like this was even feasible, and tried the chocolate anyway.

After the sink was cleared up, all parties involved managed to agree that it would likely be a waste of time and effort – even I agreed that it would likely be a waste of time and effort. However, because it wouldn't waste too much time and effort, we also agreed that we might as well still try. Fuuka looked slightly brighter at the hope her cooking could be helpful again, though the implications of success ('Is my cooking really that bad?') still looked to worry her.

Since all the Shadows were hostile towards up (plus, you know, most of them didn't actually have mouths), we couldn't exactly walk up and feed them. As such, we had to spend some time brainstorming ideas.

"What if we just threw them?" That was me. "Some of those Shadows look enough like piles of sludge that they'd probably absorb them."

"It's hard enough shooting them with a bow." Yukari. "If we tried to throw things, we'd just miss all the time."

"Well, if hitting is the problem, why don't we use them up close?" Junpei. "Not like, tie them in a bag and beat Shadows over the head – though that could work. Maybe we could use them like poison, and coat our weapons in them?"

"Not possible, Iori." Mitsuru. "If we knew the effects these truffles had on the enemy, then your suggestion would be valid. However, if we did as you suggest, then we would have little way of determining the effect of the chocolate, compared to weapon strikes alone. Our experiments would have been for naught."

"Do you think chocolate is soluble in napalm?" Me. Four blank stares answered that one.

"Don't dismiss him so quickly. He has half a point." Akihiko. "It's a lot harder to avoid a cone of flame than a single arrow. Of course, doing it as he suggests would have the same problem as before, but instead… if we just launched some sort of aerosol with the chocolate dispersed in, that could work."

"Huh?" Yukari. "For that to work, wouldn't the Shadows need to breathe?"

"Not necessarily." Mitsuru. "Arisato's suggestion may only have been based on intuition, but he was correct in that most Shadows are capable of absorbing things through their skin. This should prove to be enough."

"How would we even make something like that in the first place?" Junpei.

"We'll pull some strings with the chairman." Akihiko. "He's got enough connections in Kirijo Group's R&amp;D Department. It should be simple."

"Hold on!" Fuuka. "You all know what happened when you ate it. Wouldn't it be much worse if you breathed it in?"

"We can probably order some gas masks or something." Me. "All that would leave is the spraying device."

A pause, and five pairs of eyes turned to me.

Thus, I lost my second flamethrower.

* * *

I had to give Mitsuru credit. Even if she was part of one of the world's largest corporations, and even if the science wasn't that cutting-edge, still managing to get it all done in less than two days was remarkable. The meeting had been on Wednesday; on Friday, she announced the test would be later that day.

Unfortunately, she also wasn't letting me back onto the team for said test. Having to very politely ask Elizabeth for a new flamethrower after less than a week was bad enough for my pride. Not being allowed to witness the birth of one of my ideas made it worse. Some light arson helped soothe my nerves, but it didn't solve the issue.

One thing I could do, though, was train. Clawing your way through piles and piles of Shadows definitely helped make you stronger – personal experience dictated that. With everyone else getting that benefit, I had no wish to get left behind. Thence, I went up to the gym again.

Guess who just happened to be there?

…

It was time for Day Two of Akihiko's Extreme Ultra-Pain Pro (TM) training regimen.

* * *

This time, when all was said and done, I could still feel my legs. Sure, I couldn't feel my arms, or my chest, or my back, or my neck, but I could feel my legs. In recognition of my grand achievement of not collapsing onto the floor, Akihiko decided to treat me to a meal. "I know a great place," he insisted.

Given how many protein bars he ate, I shouldn't have been surprised when he took me to a beef bowl shop. Still, I'd just done a workout, and protein was protein. "Looks good. What do you recommend?"

It looked like he approved of my dietary choice. "I'd get the Bowl of the Day with extra meat, but honestly, everything's good here. The sizes are huge and don't have too much rice – fewer carbs, more muscle – and the thing that really brings everything out is the sauce. It's a secret recipe, but there's so many flavours that just blend together so smoothly that…"

His reverie was broken by a piercing, godawful shriek that sounded like a cat being flushed down a toilet. "Akihiko-sempai! It really is you!"

Recognising the threat, Akihiko's face immediately paled, and he turned to me as if seeking salvation. Before either of us could do anything, though, two screeching girls ran up to him, leeching away at his personal space.

"Akihiko-sempai! What are you doing here?" girl number one chittered.

"You're here for the beef bowls, right?" girl two nattered. "Isn't it funny that you're always eating here?" Huh. So they know his eating patterns. I wonder how many more stalkers he has.

Akihiko was still valiantly trying to hold back the invaders, but he was being forced back, step by step. "Sorry, but I don't see the humour… and can you get out of the way, please? We can't get in."

Girl one put on a mask of shock, and looked like producing a pile of fake tears. Girl two took a more aggressive line. "Why are so mean to us, Akihiko-sempai? We just want you to know how cool and awesome you are! I mean, instead of hanging around with whoever," quick hateful glance in my direction, "you could be hanging out with us! What do you say?"

"Um…" Akihiko looked unprepared to deal with such a frontal assault. "…Look, could you just let us through? If we need to talk, we can do it later. Come on, Minato."

He began pushing his way past them, when girl one blurted out, "No, Akihiko-sempai!" and promptly latched onto his arms like a limpet. "Don't leave me, Akihiko-sempai." The waterworks were on completely. "I'm always thinking about you, Akihiko-sempai. Every day, you're in my thoughts during classes, and you're in my dreams, and… and… I… I…

"I want you to be my first."

…Girls these days are crazy.

Completely flat-footed, girl two had taken the opportunity to string up Akihiko's legs, and the two of them looked ready to carry him away to their dungeon or dungeon-analogue.

I should probably step in here. "Alright, alright. You can put him down now."

Both girls, having returned to their normal states of being, sneered. Well, maybe not quite sneered, but they expressed their disapproval by wrinkling their noses and faces. "Or what?" girl one taunted.

"You two both have rather pretty faces, don't you think?" Honestly, neither of them were my type – their eyes were too dead – but they didn't need to know that. "It sure would be such a shame," I pulled out a lighter, "if something were to… happen," I struck up a flame, "to either of you, don't you think?"

They got the message. Reluctantly, they set Akihiko down and slunk away, their glares attempting to burn my skin away. Obviously, they failed.

I helped Akihiko stagger back to his feet. "Thanks for that."

I shrugged. "Don't worry about it. I take it you have fans?"

A wince. "That… depends on who you ask. They're not usually that bad, okay?"

I facepalmed. "And the way you said that just told me how much worse things are getting. You know, if you don't do anything, eventually they'll figure out how to bribe the guy behind the counter here to put sleeping pills in your food. You're going to have to do something before it gets completely out of hand."

Akihiko sighed. "What exactly can I do? I'm the captain of the boxing team. I have to set an example. If anyone sees me doing anything stupid or violent outside of school, that's it. I don't exactly have as much leeway as you do deal with things."

Well… "You could get a girlfriend. That would probably help."

Akihiko went blank for a moment. "Uh… no. Girls aren't exactly the sort of thing I want to deal with."

"Well, why not?"

"I don't really want to talk about it."

"Come on. If you tell me, then I might be able to help."

"I don't want to talk about it, okay?!"

A slow silence fell, as he realised that he'd shouted at twice the volume he'd intended, and everyone around us had stopped in his tracks.

He took several, slow, deep breaths. "Okay. I probably shouldn't have shouted there, but that's something I don't want to talk about at the moment. Do you understand?"

I reluctantly nodded. It was like most of my conversations in my head: the answer was unsatisfactory, but it was the best I was going to get. "I get it."

Still taking care to breathe slowly, Akihiko gave a deep nod. "Thank you."

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Emperor Arcana…**_

* * *

I didn't feel like doing much that evening. On any other night, that would have meant turning in early, but there was no way I was going to miss the outcome of one of my ideas, for better or worse, even if I couldn't be there in person.

Mitsuru had said that they would call me after the results were in, and that I shouldn't call them beforehand in case I distracted them. As such, I admit that I was falling asleep while I was waiting for the call.

Now, I could describe in great and excruciating detail all the things I did to try stay awake, except that it wouldn't be a particularly interesting story. Suffice to say, it only partially succeeded, as I'd fallen half-asleep. Bleary, it was a rough judder when my phone did finally ring, and I managed to drop it twice before coming back to complete alertness. "Hello?"

"Minato-kun…" It was Fuuka. Her voice, though, was distant, and borderline eerie. I found myself holding half a breath. This couldn't be good. "It didn't work…"

It still took me a moment to process just what she was saying. "What?"

"They… everyone put on their masks, and Junpei-kun took it up." Her voice had took on an almost mechanical tone, even more severed from the world. "They found the first group of Shadows, and he pointed it and fired and… and… nothing happened. Nothing. Nothing…" she trailed off.

I gulped. While the result wasn't unexpected, it was a cold reminder that we weren't in some sort of anime or manga with everything turning out perfectly, and disheartening all the same. "I'm sorry, Fuuka."

"I… I just wanted my cooking to be good for something, you know? But now…" The voice over the line broke down into tears.

It was a punch to the gut. The human part of me wanted to do nothing more than hug her and stroke her hair, all the while telling her that things would be okay. But there was a phone line in the way. I did the best I could. "It's alright, Fuuka. It's alright. Everything is going to be alright."

The sobs on the line had calmed down slightly. "I'm sorry," she choked out. "This is my fault. I… I…"

I gently made some shush noises to try calm her again. "It's alright. This is one thing which you cannot blame yourself for. This was my idea, and I'll take responsibility for the failure. You wouldn't have done it without my prodding, would you? This not your fault. This is mine, and mine alone."

Several seconds passed, with the only sound over the phone being Fuuka steadying herself again. "I… I put all my hopes for cooking into this, you know? I… I…"

"I know," I reassured. "I won't force you back into a kitchen. Never. I can't tell you what to do next – we'll all leave you to think of that for yourself. But whatever you do decide to do, I'm behind you. We'll all support you. You're part of the team now."

Several more seconds of breathing. "Th– Thank you, Minato-kun."

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Priestess Arcana…**_

The death of one hope, bringing forth the potential for countless more. The failure of one method, to allow the analysis of untold others. Two friends, separated by distance, yet united in spirit. It was a touching moment.

And then the door exploded.

* * *

Confusion reigned. Panic filled the air, accompanied by smoke and choking dust. Reflexively, I clamped both hands over my mouth as a makeshift filter, just to not suffocate.

Just what the hell was going on?

The haze cleared just enough for a pair of figures to emerge from the crater where the door had stood. The first looked like your typical, everyday nerd, if only because of a pair of shiny black glasses that pierced the murk. Other than that, and a large silver briefcase, he was comparatively ordinary – neat blue hair, green shirt, blue pants, etc. The smog cloaked over all the other details.

His companion had a… distinctive appearance. The same haze seemed to obscure him less, though that may have been because there was less to obscure. His dress sense only consisted of a pair of sackcloth trousers, some tattoos, a hemp headband and more tattoos. Besides, shoulder-length blond hair wasn't exactly a common sight in Japan. Nor were yellow eyes, for that matter.

Wait. Everything's still green. How are there people walking around?

For a brief moment, they both looked about confused and surprised as I was.

It vanished quickly. "My, my," the blond guy began. "We certainly never expected to come across someone like us."

"What are you saying?" Naturally, I was panicking – when two strangers blow up your door and walk into your dorm, it seems the natural response, especially when people shouldn't be around in the first place – but I tried not to let it get to my voice. "What do you two want?"

The smarter guy rolled his eyes. "Kids these days. No manners. Well, I guess it doesn't matter." He pulled out a sheet of paper from his briefcase. "Minato Arisato, Date of Birth 1st of April 1993, height one-metre-seventy, blood type O, natural hair colour blue, eye colour silver-blue, member of Class 2-F of Gekkoukan High School, expelled from seven previous other schools due to arson and other run-ins with the law? Is that you?"

With everything he revealed, I froze up more. How did they know? How did they find out? If they know all that, what else do they know? How are they active during the Dark Hour? Do they have Personas? Do they know about Shadows and all that? But why are they looking for me specifically? Are they trying to help me? Wouldn't they have come during the day? So they can't be here for good reasons, can they? "Sorry. You blew down the wrong door."

Blondie snorted. "Tsk. We can add 'terrible liar' to the list of things about you, then." Well, it had been worth a shot.

Smarts had quickly filed his notes away. "You're probably wondering why we're here, right? It's nothing personal, see. Someone's got a grudge against you, and they wanted revenge."

Any motion I might have still had seized up in that moment, as if the world had ground to a halt. Revenge. It wasn't unfeasible, but the idea that people really hated me that much flung so many questions into my head. They all came out at once, a disjointed, confused paste. "What – a – but – there – no – who – how – yet – the – me – why?"

Blondie gave a cold, soulless chuckle, and his hand reached into his pocket. "Oh, I'm afraid we can't tell you that much. We're professionals here. Still, given that you're the first awake person we've met, I feel like I should give you a hint before you go.

"It has something to do with fire."

He pulled out a gun, and pointed it at my chest.

"Wait –"

and a bang and pain and blood and pain and oh god he just shot me and blood and theres blood everywhere and i stagger and pain and numb and blood and i cant feel my limbs and its a fountain and pain and footsteps and they walk away and im still bleeding and it still hurts and why wont it stop and its going to stain and blood and more and more and more and more and more and more and fuuka is going to be sad and im sorry and bloods still pouring out and am i still breathing or just and can i feel anything but pain and blood and my legs are going and pain and blood and pain and blood and blood and pain and im falling and im falling and falling and falling and falling and floor and black and im going to die and


	20. Chapter 19

A/N: Slightly belated happy new year. With this update comes some minor revisions to the Prologue and first three Chapters – nothing major, just cleaning up some phrasings and paragraphings to make it easier to read. Possibly expect other similar updates, depending on how I feel.

[To all reviewers who posed a question: the answer is no. Some of this is addressed in the chapter.]

* * *

"Urgh."

My mind was slowly getting clearer. It felt like I'd been asleep for months.

Wait a minute. I can actually feel things? I'm still breathing, I still have a heartbeat, and my brain is still ticking over all its natural functions?

I'm not dead! It's a miracle!

_No, not a miracle. You just owe me. Again._

Right. I'm not really sure why I got my hopes up that it would be anything else. Still, I suppose I owe you a thanks.

_Tell me about it. Any idiot can stick together lumps of meat, but do you know how much effort it takes to recreate lost blood? I mean, once you lose it and it starts seeping into the carpets and upholstery, there's no way getting it back. Blood is a bloody mess._

Why are you bothering to make this point? I'd have assumed that you'd have enjoyed seeing me bleed all over the place.

_Oh, take my word for it – I most certainly did. Still, I feel that you should try understand what exactly happened to you after getting shot. Look down, and see where your bullet scar is._

I'm not sure why you're making this point, but I'll bite…

…Shit.

There, on my chest, was a small, round, pinkish scar, about the size of a bullet, right where my heart was.

_Yep. You, personally, have near enough makes no difference five litres of blood in your body. This is also about the amount that your heart pumps per minute. In other words, you lost about half of your blood before I made the bleeding stop._

…What. I mean… is that even survivable?

_Probably not, but you're alive now, aren't you? What's done is done, and you shouldn't dwell on the how or why or the notions of possibility. Speaking of which, I'm pretty sure that the bullet wound you suffered was almost impossible._

What do you mean by that? Fatalistic as it may sound, hitting someone in the heart doesn't exactly defy probability.

_Yes, but detaching your aorta with a bullet probably does._

…What. That's the big artery that comes out of my heart, right?

_Yep. Again, that's something which probably isn't feasible, but it happened. Besides, when I was done with it, it was good as new again. Almost. It should be fine, but if your blood pressure gets too high, it will probably explode, you'll suffer massive internal haemorrhages, and you'll probably die. Fun._

…Can't you say something reassuring for once?

_I could, but then again, I could not._

Great. Just great.

_Hey, I thought of something reassuring. You've been unconscious for a week._

…Why do I even bother? And why didn't you point this out earlier?

_You'd have found out by yourself in due time, probably when some doctor-type person realises you've finally started kicking again. Falling unconscious is a symptom of haemorrhagic shock, may I remind you._

Yes, but, I don't know, couldn't you have revived me after you put all my blood back in or something? I'd have preferred to not lose a week.

_No. Didn't you hear me earlier? Replacing lost blood is hard. Since all of it that was covering the walls was completely lost, I had to create it from scratch, and anyone should be able to tell that creating something from nothing violates most laws of science and pseudoscience. I only bothered make enough so that you wouldn't conk out before you got a couple of transfusions._

What? That feels like a giant cop-out. What exactly makes blood difficult to create?

_Logistics._

…Really.

_Eh. As explanations go, it's close enough. And before you complain that it isn't a satisfactory answer, it's the only answer that you're going to get._

And yet again, I am left wondering why I even bother.

A sort of silence fell. Of course, as all the preceding conversation had been in my head, the room had been silent anyway, but that was besides the point. The silence floating around inside of my head was still kind of unsettling, in its own, odd way.

…

Who do you think it was?

_Are you talking to me again?_

I don't have any other voices in my head, do I? Anyway, somebody hates me enough to want me dead. Who do you think it was?

_Why are you even asking me this? I fail to see the point in this exercise._

I just wanted some second thoughts. Personally, I'm leaning on those girls who tried to kidnap Akihiko. Given how crazy-obsessive they seemed, I wouldn't be particularly surprised. And fire was involved.

_Those things are all true, indeed. However, there is one glaring issue with this hypothesis. The incident occurred on the same day as you getting shot. Though Blondie and Smarts may have had additional backup, it seems unlikely to me that they found out all those facts about your identity, located your address, and managed to travel there all in the space of around six hours. I mean, those girls probably do hate you enough that once they figure out you're still alive, another couple of bullets will end up flying towards your heart, but this time? I doubt it._

Wait. If it wasn't them, who else could it have been?

_Well, given how long grudges can last, and how many things you set on fire before you came to this city, I wouldn't be excessively surprised if it turned out to be someone that neither of us remember. Other options include one of those people from that back alley, that transfer student who always hung out in the home economics room before you burnt it down, someone all too attached to science who thought you were involved in that fire but covered up your own tracks all too well, or a bin man._

_Basically, there are plenty enough people who have reason to hate you._

…Great. My life is an utter mess.

With that sombre thought, a doctor finally realised I was awake.

* * *

Once they were satisfied that I was completely functional, the hospital discharged me the next day. I was more than prepared to go back to the dorm by myself and mope about how many people hated me, when I was intercepted in the lobby.

"'Sup, dude!"

"…Aren't you supposed to be at school?"

Junpei waved it off. "Eh, someone needed to take the time off to make sure you were fine. Come on. I'll treat you to a bowl of ramen. You were the one who we found lying in a pool of his own blood, after all."

"Please don't remind me."

"In that case, when you get back to the dorm, just ignore all the new rugs. They'll be gone in a few days – you'll hardly notice them, and they're not covering anything suspicious at all. Now, how about that ramen?"

Severe blood loss or not, I've never been one to turn down free food. Hence, about twenty minutes later, we were waiting outside of the ramen place (there was a queue).

The conversation on the way there was relaxing, if not exceptionally deep. "How's your progress on your 'ultimate plan' to get closer to Fuuka?"

Junpei scratched his head. "Honestly? It's going okay, but she was really worried about you. In fact, she was probably the most worried. Hell, she probably would have given twice the amount of blood she did, if it was actually safe."

That was enough to cause a slight double-take. "She gave blood?"

He gave a small shrug. "The hospital had a shortage of O-negative, or something like that, and Fuuka was the only person we could find with the right type. Eventually they dug up some more, but she kinda saved your ass."

"I'll need to thank her for that."

Now, the conversation probably could have survived for a while longer after this point, had not a middle-aged, slightly fat salaryman in a faded suit staggered out of the restaurant, reeking of cheap booze, and spontaneously vomited on the ground right in front of us. "What're you looking at?" he glared at us, before throwing up again.

Naturally, neither of us were particularly pleased by this turn of events. "Evidently, I'm looking at someone pathetic. It's still broad daylight, you drunken slob."

The alcoholic seemed to take offence to this, as, after pausing to throw up again, he began lumbering towards us. Of course, it would have been simple enough to move around him, when Junpei suddenly decided that the best course of action was to kick him in the stomach. He crumpled to the ground, more vomit dribbling down his chin as he did.

A tense silence hung in the air.

"Junpei? Are you feeling alright?"

For a moment, all he did was stare a downright lethal look into the man on the floor. He did eventually break out of it, but his ensuing comment wasn't exactly the most reassuring. "Come on. We don't have to deal with this bastard. If he goes and gets hit by a car, so much for the better."

"…Alright." Yes, his sudden change in mood was concerning, but trying to address the issue right then? I'd probably just get punched in the face.

The mood was still sour as our food arrived. Junpei was still seething, and he hadn't said a word since entering the restaurant. Half a bowl of ramen's worth of uncomfortable silence later, I hoped an unempty stomach would be enough to settle him, and bit the bullet. "So I take it you have a problem with drunks." It didn't need to be a question.

Junpei gave a cynical chuckle. "You could say that."

"Why?"

He didn't reply. The silence returned.

…

The silence continued.

…

"What were your parents like?"

Mid-noodle, I froze.

"Hey, if it's too uncomfortable, you don't have to talk about it. Just pretend I didn't say anything."

Languidly, I finished up my mouthful of noodles, and shook my head. "Don't worry." Yes, it was an awkward thing to talk about, and not just because, you know, they were dead – but at the very least, Junpei had decided to regain his powers of speech. "It's odd to explain to people, but I don't remember them."

Junpei's eyes almost flashed open in disbelief. "What do you mean?"

Sighing, I put my elbows on the table and started cradling my head. "My parents are dead. I'm pretty sure you know that much." Junpei gave a tentative nod. "Well, they died in a car crash. I was in that car when it crashed."

Junpei shifted around nervously, clearly not having anticipated dredging up this sort of stuff. "Sorry. I can't imagine what it was like."

"Neither can I."

"Wait, what?"

"The first thing I remember clearly is waking up in a hospital bed the morning after the crash. Everything before that? A giant blur. Nothing's clear. I remember the crash happened, but I'm pretty sure it messed up my head somehow, because I don't recall what happened.

"Similarly, while I remember having parents, and I remember remembering things about them, I can't actually remember anything about them. Faces, hair colour, personality – nothing."

Another silence.

"What brought this on?"

It was Junpei's turn to pause mid-bite. He thought over his word choice for several seconds. "Simply put, my dad was a pile of shit."

"He 'was'."

Junpei let out a long, pent-up sigh. "Ages ago, he wasn't so bad. He wasn't a good father, but at least he was semi-passable. Then… I don't know. He just started drinking, day in, day out. He didn't even bother work anymore. All he did was sit in the house and drink and drink, and throw up and drink some more. It wasn't a surprise when mom left."

"You don't have to continue."

He shook his head. "There's not much else to say. Eventually, he just started wasting away. Dad was always a 'tough love' kind of person, but in the end, I couldn't even feel it. God knows if he's even still alive."

The silence returned. The atmosphere was bordering on choking.

_Come on. Even you have to admit that sitting here, doing nothing but feeling sorry for yourselves isn't going to do anything._

Even if that's true – which, to be fair, it probably is – what do you want me to do about it? Do something stupid and stilted, just in the vain hope that it'll make things better?

_Yes._

…

…Okay, fine. I'll do this to try lighten the mood, even if I'm sacrificing most of my self-respect to do so.

I picked up my chopsticks, scooped up a large glob of ramen, and splapped it onto my face.

Junpei blinked. "Seriously, Minato, what are you doing?"

In reply, I stuffed another pile of noodles into my mouth. "I am Cthulhu, great Lord of the Deep! Bleargh!" (It may have only sounded like a pile of muffles. Or someone being wrapped in several heavy winter blankets and drowned in thick vegetable soup.)

Silence again.

Then Junpei sort-of collapsed into the table, face scattering soy sauce and other condiments, guffawing as he did so. "Dude, that was pathetic."

I smiled, scraping my noodles back into the bowl. "Hey, we're two teenage boys, and here we are, talking about parental issues. Honestly? So are we."

He was still lightly chuckling as he sat back up. "All too true. What's wrong with us?"

"Probably everything. Now, I think we need a toast to cap this sorry episode off."

"You've got it." A waiter happened to be passing by with some drinks, so Junpei borrowed two glasses of juice, ignoring the frowns he gave me. "To traumatic backstories?"

I clinked the glasses. "And to messed-up situations with our parents."

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Magician Arcana…**_

* * *

Even with all the deep, emotional stuff, I'd still held Junpei to his offer of treating me to ramen (that was what friends did); I left the restaurant a few minutes before him. I had expected him to catch up quickly, but it later dawned that he'd left his wallet at school. Oh well.

I took my time to walk back to the dorm, making sure I gave all of my muscles a proper stretch. It was early evening by the time I got back, to see Fuuka and Yukari playing with a smallish, white dog.

They replaced me with a dog.

The girls noticed me at almost exactly the same time. "Minato-kun!" Yukari greeted me. "We heard from Junpei that you're all good now. Welcome back!"

"Yeah," I mumbled. All my attention was still focussed on the dog. Being able to lounge around, while cute girls scratch your stomach… I wouldn't say I was jealous, but it was close. "When did we get a dog?"

Fuuka looked up. "Hmm? Oh, we didn't get a dog. He just walks down here every now and again. I've seen him at the shrine a few times. Oh, his name's Koromaru. Koro-chan, this is Minato-kun. Go say hi!"

The dog walked up happily, tongue lolling out of his mouth. Close up, there were two (or three, depending on how you count it) incredibly distinguishing features: a lack of a collar (he can't be a stray, can he?), and a pair of deep, red eyes (albino dog – bonus points for uniqueness) that just seemed… intelligent, somehow.

Also, he was a Shiba Inu, and he was absolutely adorable. I quickly scooped him up in my arms. "Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy, Koro-chan?" Who cares if they replaced me with a dog? This was the best dog ever!

Then I remembered that I wasn't alone. Fuuka was struggling to stifle some giggles; Yukari hadn't made it that far. "I didn't think you were a dog person, Minato-kun."

I surreptitiously cleared my throat, and put Koro-chan… Koromaru back on the ground. "Honestly, neither did I, but he's just too cute." Yes, I had a soft side. "Anyway, who's his owner? Seems strange to just let a dog run about like this."

And like that, the mood took a tumble. Both the girls started looking uncomfortable. "He… isn't here anymore."

Ah. "What happened to him?"

"I'm not sure," Yukari tentatively began, seemingly noticing that Koromaru was beginning to look sad as well. "I've only heard it from people walking down here, but he died a few months back. I think he was a priest at the shrine, and the two of them always went on walks down here. Koro-chan's just been carrying on by himself."

Koromaru was now thoroughly depressed. If I couldn't say no to Elizabeth making puppy-dog eyes, how could I say no to an actual dog? I knelt down and gave him a good scratch behind the ears. "You are a proud and noble creature, Koro-chan." His tail started wagging, and he began perking up. "Your loyalty is more than worthy of respect."

"Arf!"

Yukari giggled again. "It looks like he likes you, Minato-kun. Anyway, it's getting late. I think we need to go in and get ready for the chairman."

"Wait, the chairman's coming?"

My confusion was mirrored on Yukari's face. "Huh? Junpei didn't tell you?"

I shook my head. "No. Junpei was too busy mentioning the new batch of rugs we got for the dorm, underneath which there are absolutely no suspicious stains made out of questionable materials at all. No way."

A bit of a dumbstruck pause followed, followed by something that resembled a hiss. "One of these days, Stupei… but, yeah, the chairman'll be coming in an hour or two. He wanted to talk to us about something."

Right. "Do we know what?"

As soon as those words were out of my mouth, Yukari looked distinctively more uncomfortable. Fuuka picked up the question. "Well, he hasn't told us anything yet, but if he's coming here in person, it has to be important, right? He could have just given a message to Mitsuru-sempai, but he didn't, and he waited until you were all better. That's why I think it's important."

"I see." I stood back up, giving Koromaru a last bellyrub. "I hope, noble creature, that one day we will meet again."

"Arf!"

* * *

There were indeed a lot of new rugs in the dorm. To describe the atrociousness of the state of the carpets underneath would be an exercise in futility, so I won't. Also, I noticed that some of the sofas in the living area had been replaced with those originally from the meeting room. Anyone could guess the reason.

Still, I wasn't complaining. New leather sofas were cushy. In fact, they were so cushy that I ended up not-quite-listening to Ikutsuki's speech. Something to do with the large Shadows having some sort of pattern to them, so the next one would be a Hierophant, then some theories about the purpose of all this? That was the gist of it, anyway.

A night of board games with celestial horrors later, it was a crisp Sunday morning. The sun was bright, the air was clear, the birds were singing, and when I went downstairs, Yukari was semi-catatonic on a sofa, looking as depressed as the dog had been yesterday.

Well, I couldn't just leave her there, could I? "What's wrong?"

She seemed startled by my appearance, quickly sitting upright. "Huh? Oh. Um… not much. Really, I'm fine."

"Says the person who, until a moment ago, looked like a marinating steak."

"Well…" She paused. "Alright, fine. You know all that stuff the chairman said last night? About the twelve large Shadows and Tartarus, and all that?"

Not really, because I wasn't listening. "Yes," I lied.

"Don't you think there's just too much about it all that we don't understand? It just feels like we're in the dark about so much, and what we do know, half of it still feels like it's being hidden from us… it's getting to me."

Clearly, she was in a bad way. I did the thing which felt the most reassuring without being exploitative, and gently put a hand on her shoulder.

She shuddered briefly at my touch, but quickly calmed. "I… thanks, Minato-kun."

"No problem. Now, since no-one else seems to be here, how about we go out and do something, just the two of us?"

A light blush formed on her cheeks. "I'd like that."

* * *

_I didn't think it would be possible, but you're going to screw this up._

Don't be such a nihilist. I've got this relationship under control.

_Do you remember the last romantic gesture you shared, and how the one before that had been two weeks earlier? That was four weeks ago. Four. Weeks. Four weeks, in which you didn't even pretend to be in a relationship. Seriously, Minato, you're a terrible romantic. You need to try harder._

And I suppose a disembodied voice could do a better job.

_And only an idiot doesn't take advice. Hubris may be your downfall. If you balls this up beyond the point of no return, I am going to laugh so hard, and your misery will be ambrosia to my ears._

Could you just shut up already?

"Minato-kun? Are you in there?"

I blinked. "Sorry, I was just distracted by how radiant you were looking today."

A smirk and a blush. "You're such a flatterer. Anyway, what colour gerbera do you think would be best?"

…What's a gerbera?

I didn't say that out loud, mostly because Yukari seemed incredibly enthusiastic about these 'gerberas', and I didn't want to disappoint her. I went for the safe choice. "I think pink would be cutest."

Yukari beamed out a smile. "You think so too? That settles it. Pink it is!" She fished out a handful of notes and gave them to the shop attendant. "What other flowers do you think would look nice?"

So gerberas were a type of flower? I was not, am not, and will never be an expert in flowers. I have always known so little about flowers that I can't even make sensible opinions about them. I gave the first thing I could think of which seemed like a sensible answer. "Cherry blossoms."

"Huh?" Clearly, she hadn't expected that for an answer. "Yeah, they're pretty, but… wait, are you suggesting that I should get a bonsai tree? That's… I'm not sure, but if you think it's good, it has to be at least okay, right?"

That logic seemed… dubious, at best. "So if I told you to take all your clothes off, right now, would you do it?"

She actually paused, as if seriously considering it. "Well…" Then her hands moved to the top of her shirt, and delicately undid the top button, before gently gliding down to the next one.

She's actually doing it. We're in a public place, surrounded by people, and she's actually…

"Psych!" Yukari giggled, quickly fastening up all her buttons again. My head refused to move. "My eyes are up here, you know?" With great effort, I forced my head back up – damn you, hormones – though she was still taking it in her stride. "Seriously, sometimes you can be as bad as Junpei."

"Hey, don't drag him down into the same tier as me. He doesn't set things on fire."

She missed a beat, before give a gentle, warm laugh. In fact, Yukari seemed to be especially full of laughter that day. It felt like we were more than getting closer, and if the day had just ended there, it would have been great.

Unfortunately, the day did not end there, and, in accordance with the apparent theme that weekend (happy, joyous situations rapidly taking a nosedive), all that laughter dried up right then, when Yukari received a phonecall.

"Hold on a moment," she said, obviously expecting a schoolfriend or some other associate. The smiles stopped when she saw the caller ID. All she answered with was a grim "Hello."

The following is a transcript of what Yukari shouted into her phone.

"Yeah? What do you want?

"Just get to the point already.

"…What. What?! Is this a joke?!

"Oh, of course it isn't, _right?_ Dad was always the one with the sense of humour, wasn't he?

"Move on? How am I the one who needs to move on? You've been flinging yourself at guys half your age since he died, for what? And now… how do you think he feels about all of that?

"Just what do you want from me already!?

"…You know what? I don't have to deal with you or any of this. Go ahead. Do what you want. Just don't call me, because I don't want to deal with any of your shit ever again!"

She hung up, grim finality laced into the action.

Her words were harsh; her tone was harsher. It started at annoyed, quickly become irate, eventually flying straight into pure, unadulterated hatred. Then, at the end, each word coming from her mouth turned into a dozen barbed knives, caught with you in the heart of a storm, making a thousand cuts to tear at your flesh every second, before ripping out your blood and shunting it into your lungs, so you drown whilst still on your feet; and yet, that description still doesn't cover the true venom and toxicity. However sharp you think it was, it was sharper.

The happy mood from minutes earlier was already dead and buried, to have been replaced with cold, pallid silence. It loomed over both of us – her, unsure of how to regain her footing; me, of simply how to approach the issue.

People around us milled on, oblivious.

Some time later, it was a hearse voice, torn between bursting and collapsing, that finally spoke. "Do you remember what I said? That my dad died, and that I don't get along with my mom?"

I gave a slow nod. "Was that her?"

An almost-sarcastic chuckle escaped her lips. "You didn't miss a beat. Yeah, it was her. She said…" Yukari paused and took a deep breath, considering her words. "She's living with one of her boyfriends at the moment. I've lost count of how many she's had. Some of them were barely older than me. But now? She says she's happy, and she wants to get married again. Married. She wants to get married."

"Are you alright?"

"Of course I'm not alright!" Yukari snapped. "How would you like it if your mother was nothing more than a slut, good for nothing more than dragging your dad's name through the mud? Do you think that's fair? Would you be alright with that?"

_So in addition to tonal nosedives, this also seems to be the weekend of traumatic backstories and scarred familial histories. It's like a soap opera!_

I opened my mouth to try say something comforting, but nothing came out. The situation was beyond me. The silence returned.

It seemed to last for an eternity.

"…Sorry," Yukari finally calmed. "I… shouldn't have yelled at you. You didn't do anything wrong. Sorry."

I let out a half-held sigh. "It's alright. I think I understand. If you need me, I'm here."

Yukari gave a final glance down at her phone. "Thanks, Minato-kun."

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Lovers Arcana…**_

* * *

After all that, I'd thought that a good amount of destructive catharsis would be good for all of us. The plan had been simple – go to Tartarus, blow some Shadows up, feel good.

When we got there, though, something just felt… off. Maybe it was how Yukari still looked as sombre as earlier. Maybe it was how Junpei was attacking the task with less than half his usual vigour. Maybe it was how Mitsuru almost reflexively gave a disapproving glare any time one of my Personas detonated, or the look of not-quite-but-almost disappointment on Akihiko's face when we left him in the lobby with Fuuka, or how Elizabeth cited 'bureaucratic errors' when I asked her how my flamethrower was. I don't know. All I know, is that something was off.

"Omoikane!"

At my call, what could only be described as an unholy hybrid of a jellyfish and a giant brain appeared, simply floating there, somehow looking bored. Of course, it then exploded in a shower of charge and sparks, taking out two small Shadows, but there was no pleasure in it. There wasn't any of that visceral feel, or that sort of primal adrenaline surge from wanton destruction. There was… nothing. It felt mechanical. Soulless.

Experimentation didn't really help, either.

"Oberon! Chimera!"

Both beings – a proud-looking fairy king, and a jumbled mishmash of animal parts – promptly appeared, before turning into light and merging, as experienced before. This one didn't explode. Instead, it seemed to settle and flow; the light eventually faded, to show a half-man, half-snake being, clutching shield and spear.

_Naga._

Then it exploded, but we were all expecting that.

And so, we continued. Find Shadows. Eliminate Shadows. Create explosions. Move up to next floor. Repeat. Repeat some more. Et cetera.

In fact, part of me thought it was almost a relief when we all began to hear the cold jangling of chains, so we had an excuse to leave. 'Almost', because the rest of me could tell that something was now coming to kill us, and dying was not something I was looking to do.

"Run!" Fuuka's voice shouted over the intercom. "I sense Death!"

_You probably should have told them it was death, not Death._

I didn't bother respond. Too busy not dying. "Did anyone see an access point on the way here?"

Nope. No-one did.

"Alright. Let's just –" and then a loud boom, and something whizzing over my head.

"Minato Arisato."

God, no. How was he here already?

"I will hold myself to my word. This will be your end."

Idontwanttodie

Any sense of appreciation for death was immediately lost. Boredom and disinterest is still better than being hunted down by something with a personal vendetta against you. I bolted, turned and ran.

I probably just left my friends to die, didn't I?

Actually, those are footsteps behind me. Hopefully, they're alright. I hope they don't call me out on that. I should probably check on them, to make sure they're alright.

I reached a corner, turned back, and almost froze.

It was ignoring them. It was completely ignoring them. It could have tried kill them, but no, it was plainly, flat-out ignoring them, and it was coming straight after me.

Why? What did I do? Why does it hate me this much?

"You have cheated me often enough. It is time to accept your destiny."

Behind me, I could hear its guns cocking. Shit. Okay. Duck and weave. Duck and weave. Duck and weav–

That's an access point. I'm going to–

Something tore through my knee.

Shitshitshitshitshit I only just got out of hospital I don't want to get hospitalised again and my knee's on fire but the exit's right there and I can deal with all of this later so I just need to get out right now and shit I'm falling and I probably should have expected that and my face is scraping along the floor.

"Do you now see the futility of your actions? I am inexorable. It is time for you to return to where you belong."

Sprawled on the floor of Tartarus, one of my legs limp and useless, bleeding massively from at least one severe wound and probably a couple more I didn't notice, rapidly going cold – this weekend had been a mess, and to top it off, I was going to die. Great.

I looked up to see two long barrels, both pointed squarely between my eyes.

…Hey, Lyra. If my head explodes, I don't suppose that you could put it back together again?

_I doubt it. I can do up your leg, but your head? No, the world'll probably end up dead._

Great. Just checking to make sure I don't have any Get Out of Jail Free cards I hadn't used. Oh well.

Guns clicked into position.

This is it, then. I closed my eyes, just waiting for the end.

_So you're giving up again. While I can understand your logic, do you remember what happened last time?_

I'm not really sure what you're hinting at –

"Hermes!"

Oh, right. Big damn heroes.

A giant blue blur rammed straight into death's side. Startled, two bullets missed anything significant. In response, it gave out some sort of primal snarl, and for a moment seemed to have completely forgotten about my presence, instead focussing on smashing Hermes to pieces.

"Insolent mortals. I will teach you to show respect to your superiors."

For the record, even though its attacks were barely managing to do anything, Hermes was managing to dodge pretty well. Junpei took the opportunity to skid up (literally, as my blood had made the floor slippery). "He's here! Don't worry, and – holy shit, what happened to your leg?"

"Iori! Not the right time!" Mitsuru and Yukari quickly followed. Yukari immediately looked greener; if Mitsuru was fazed, she didn't show it. "The access point is right there. We have to get him out first. Then we can deal with his injuries."

"Right. Got it. Yuka-tan, take his other shoulder?"

"Okay. Just hang in there, Minato-kun."

Somehow, I'm still alive.


	21. Chapter 20

Thus, less than two days after coming out of hospital, I was back in again, not-quite-listening to some doctor type talk about my knee (Mitsuru kept several doctors from her father's company in the loop to minimise weird questions).

"From how it was described to me, I must say that I'm surprised that the damage wasn't greater. While the bullet managed to avoid all the bone and sinew," correction – they'd been ripped to shreds, but had already been patched up by unholy forces not meant to be understood, "the muscle around your knee is in a bad way, to put it lightly. While I'm sure Takeba-san did her best, I doubt that it will fully heal within two weeks."

Great. Why couldn't you just restitch it completely?

_It's only a flesh wound. You'll walk it off._

I was confined to the hospital the next day – the medics wanted to do some more tests, to make sure that my lower leg wouldn't fall off when I started walking. Staring at a blank white ceiling for twelve hours straight was only slightly less interesting than drowning.

When the doctors eventually got bored of doing their tests and let me go, it was Tuesday afternoon. I had no wish to deal with half a day of new rumours, so I slowly went back to the dorm.

Key point: slowly. Yes, while walking was just about possible, 'awkward' didn't quite cover the feeling. I did try moving faster, just to see if it made it any better. Nope. Two steps later, I admit I might have been rolling on the floor in pain. It took at least twenty minutes to just get my bearings back afterwards.

I probably should have just asked for some crutches back at the hospital.

Through force of will and luck, I eventually managed to get back. Everyone else was still at school, and I considered waiting for them. Then I yawned, realised my body was still completely shot from a double hospitalisation, and decided to just go to sleep. Even if the sun was still up.

I'd expected to be woken by my alarm in the morning, or to have woken up by myself earlier than that.

"Wake up, Minato."

"No… they're eating her… and then they're going to eat me…"

Poke. "Would you kindly be a dear and wake up for me?"

Mmph. "Don't eat me… I'm all skin and bone… eat Junpei instead…"

Sigh. "Very well, then. Minato Arisato, I command you to wake up!"

At this point, I was punched in the face.

Crudely awoken and rubbing my face, I began looking around for what had so brazenly disturbed my slumber. Then I noticed it was green, and the only person in my room other than me was a boy in striped pyjamas.

The boy – Pharos, that was his name, right? – chuckled. "I'm surprised by your taste in movies. Did you really watch it from start to finish?"

I remembered enough of what I'd been dreaming to get the context. "Unfortunately, yes. It was a bet I made with myself over whether doing something could be more boring and painful than doing nothing. I lost." I paused to let out a yawn. Still sleepy. "Anyway, I'm assuming it was you who woke me up. Did you really have to punch me?"

Pharos just coyly smiled. "Oh, of course I did. Last time, you complained about not having enough warning, so I thought that this would be what you wanted. And you weren't responding to gentler stimuli, so I punched you."

Last time? That would be those… oh. Well, I did want that, but… damn you, me. "Alright. So I take it that a trial is coming? A big Shadow?"

A nod of confirmation. "My, you're a perceptive one." Pharos took a seat on my bed, only slightly too close for comfort. "Indeed, the full moon will rise in a week. Are you prepared for what awaits?"

…Honestly? "I can barely walk at the moment. I believe the correct answer is 'god, no'."

"And yet, time does not wait, does it?" Pharos chuckled. "I believe I have said those words before, that all of us are delivered to the same end. What end do you think that is?"

"…I'd prefer to not have to do a philosophical debate. I'd rather be getting back to sleep."

A small smirk crossed his face. "As you wish." Pharos got back up and gave a little bow. "Remember, a week. A full moon, a trial, and all the change it will bring."

I nodded an assent. "I'll do what I can. It won't be much, but I hope it will help."

"I have no need for those words, but I thank you for them all the same. Good night." Poof. He disappeared. I'd stopped questioning it by now.

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Death Arcana…**_

A week. Not enough for my knee. What could I do?

My train of thought was broken by a loud yawn.

…I'll think about this in the morning.

* * *

Okay. The full moon's on Tuesday. It's Wednesday. Six days to go.

Coming back, the rumour mill was fully operational.

"Did you hear?"

"Of course I did, because I hate myself and to make myself feel better I have to take pleasure in throwing mud over the names of everyone else, herp derp derp."

Note that I may be paraphrasing what was said to a degree. In any case, Isako proved remarkably adept at keeping everyone calm in homeroom – presumably, she wanted to give me some more space to get back into the rhythm of things. I appreciated the extra space; it helped me think.

I had six days. Come then, against whatever, I highly doubted whether I'd have the privilege of staying still. That meant that I needed to at least get used to walking around on a shot knee. Thence, I went to the gym – yes, running was beyond stupid, but it was a controlled environment without many people, and if I suddenly felt the need to do pull-ups or something, that option would still be available.

That was the theory, anyway. I borrowed a shirt from the lost property department, ripped it up, wrapped it around my knee as a brace and set a treadmill for a steady two-and-a-half miles an hour.

Walk. Walk. Walk.

Still walking.

…Yep, still walking.

Since this is another one of those parts where nothing really happens, I'll skip forward a bit.

Some time later, I fell off the treadmill.

No, it wasn't anything awful or dramatic of horrifying or anything – no sudden screams of pain, no snapped tendons, no fountains of blood as flesh tore from sinew. Walking was just more tiring than I remembered, and I ended up forgetting to move my legs. In fact, it was only when a girl with a ponytail poked her head in that I realised I was on the floor.

"Minato-san? Are you alright?"

I blinked. "Yeah, Rio-san, I'm fine. Just wasn't really paying attention. Fatigue and all that." I faked a yawn for emphasis.

"Fair enough. Be, careful, then, as… what happened to your knee?"

Well, she had eyes. She was bound to notice. "It got screwed up. Pretty badly." Further details weren't necessary.

Rio winced. "Ooph. That can't have felt good. I twisted my knee playing tennis, about… two years ago, now? Single most painful thing that's ever happened to me, so I can relate." Probably not as painful as getting shot in the heart, but that was something else I didn't need to bring up. "I was on crutches for a month… wait, should you even be walking right now?"

"Probably not," I conceded. "However, there's some stuff going on in a week, and I'm going to need to be able to move around, so I'm getting some practice in. I can rest afterwards. Can you help me up?"

"Sure." I grabbed her outstretched hand. "What's happening, then? Has to be pretty important, if you're willing to risk your leg like that."

I'm going to face a giant horror that's probably going to find some completely unexpected, cruel and unusual way of inflicting grievous bodily harm on me. "Club activities," was the explanation I settled on. It was still the truth. "It's complicated, and I'd prefer if I didn't have to do it, but I can't just quit. I'm a member, and I need to do my part." If only because the other option would be getting executed again.

Rio blinked. Then she blinked again – something I said might have caused a double-take. "You really enjoy being part of… what club are you in anyway? Nevermind. The point is, you enjoy it, don't you?"

Well… "I think 'enjoy' might not be the right word." Getting shot, stabbed and set on fire certainly wasn't fun. "But I understand what you're getting at. I… appreciate? I guess that's the right word. I appreciate being part of the club. It gives me something to do, and lets me hang out with interesting people. That's all there is to it… Rio-san? Are you alright?"

There was a long, tentative pause before Rio said anything. While I'd been speaking, a look had crossed her face. I would say it was wistful, except that sort-of implies remembering better days, and from the lines on her face, it was clear that the things she was recalling weren't entirely happy. It wasn't horrific-flashbacks-Vietnam-War level, but it was enough that it couldn't be a positive sign. "If only all club members could be like you, Minato-san."

…Proceeding down this path feels like a can of worms. I don't really want to have more dramatic recollections of traumatic backstories, like at the weekend. Change the subject. Change the subject.

"You said you played tennis?"

"Huh?" She broke out of her reverie. "Um, yeah. I used to. Back in middle school, they all said I was the best in the year. I mean… yeah." That look appeared again, and her voice trailed off.

"Doesn't this school have a tennis club? I'm pretty sure they'd love to have someone like you."

As soon as I finished speaking, Rio gave some sort of bitter, cynical chuckle. "The school does have a tennis club, Minato-san. You're looking at it. Everyone else quit."

…Oh.

Smooth, Minato. Real smooth. You try to change the subject to something more comfortable, and what do you do? You ignore the warning signs, and you turn it to what's probably the very worst thing possible. Again. Smooth.

Those questions about club enjoyment make a lot more sense now.

"Erm… sorry for bringing that up."

Rio sighed again, less bitterly, more resigned. "Don't worry. You didn't know."

…Silence. Cold, awkward silence.

I probably shouldn't keep prodding, but… "Do you mind me asking what happened?"

"They were the ones who were wrong." Cold, absolute. Not a hint of doubt. Presented as pure fact, nothing more, nothing less.

…"Okay."

Rio arched an eyebrow, in a not-quite-accusing-but-still-pretty-questioning manner. "You know that by itself, what you said doesn't really mean anything, right? At least tell me what you mean."

I quickly raised my arms in a sign of peace. "Look, I don't know what happened. I'm not going to pretend to know what happened. From the way you presented it, though, it sounds like a simple case of you versus them. I think I'll pick you."

Her stare rapidly faded, to be replaced by a moment of blankness. "I have no idea what you're saying."

I shrugged. "I'm picking sides in an apparent conflict of interests. While I don't know what the actual conflict was about, given the choice between supporting you or several strangers who probably hate and fear me, I'd rather not back the people who wouldn't hesitate to throw me out of a window when things got rough."

"…You make it sound like the fate of Japan is at stake."

"But what if it was? What if tiny aliens came to Japan trying to kidnap schoolgirls to boost their ailing cosmic theme park, and the only way to defeat them was to overcome them in a tennis tournament, but then they stole all the powers of the world's greatest professionals and became amazingly skilled monsters? What would you do?"

…We both needed a few seconds to process the horrendous pile of awful shite that had just fallen out of my mouth. I facepalmed. Where the hell had that come from? "Please pretend I never said that."

Rio gently shook her head, but she was smiling as she did so. "You really are a strange one, Minato-san."

"Eh. I get that all the time." It was good to see her smiling again.

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Chariot Arcana…**_

* * *

Thursday. Five days to go.

Went to the gym again. Started walking again. Fell off again. At least I think I managed to walk for slightly longer than the previous day, and that's probably an improvement.

While Rio wasn't there that day, I wasn't alone. Akihiko was smirking as I picked myself off the floor. "Bad day at the office, huh?"

"I guess you could say that," I said as shook out my head. "Certainly way more exhausting than usual." I got back up on the treadmill, started walking again, yawned, and fell off again.

Akihiko just smiled and shook his head. "Even if you want to keep going, doing anything else will just make things worse. It's like trying to box with a broken arm. Come on. Some ramen'll do you good. I'll buy."

Free food. "What's with the offer?" I wasn't ungrateful, but the abruptness seemed slightly suspicious.

If that doubt crept into my voice, it didn't affect Akihiko. "It's easy. You'll need carbohydrates to restock up on energy, and protein to heal up better. If I leave you alone, you'll just buy instant noodles or something else that's just as bad. Someone needs to make sure you're healing up properly." That was surprisingly benevolent of him. "Besides, the sooner you're back in shape, the sooner we can get back to training. We haven't even got to back hip circles yet." …Or not.

Still, free food was free food, and soon we were at the restaurant. "How are you today?" the server asked us as we sat down.

"We're good. Two extra-large specials, if you please," Akihiko ordered. "That's fine with you, right?" he added, as an afterthought.

"Given that we already ordered and the waitress's already left, I'm not sure why you're asking that question."

"Just wondering if you wanted anything else," he replied dismissively. "I'm paying, so get as much as you want. Better for building up strength."

"Don't worry." I wasn't feeling too hungry, so I assumed that the ramen would be enough. How true that turned out to be.

The food arrived, and deep, meaningful thought turned to dust as I stared at the colossus before me. "This is bigger than my head."

Akihiko seemed to find my stupor amusing. "As I said, better for building up strength. Eat up."

"Well… thanks for the meal, then." With trepidation, I picked up my chopsticks and began digging into the mountain of meat and noodles.

If you would like to experience for yourself what eating this felt like, don't. In the interests of your own personal health and safety, never eat something larger than your own head. It will not end well.

"Kill me. Kill me now."

Akihiko sighed at my apparent weakness. "You really have a small stomach," he said as he sadly looked upon half an uneaten bowl. "If you don't eat right, you'll never get stronger."

I managed to just gather enough strength to lift my head up from the table and give him a slightly baleful stare. "Well, thank you, 'Dad'." Then that strength ran out, and I immediately crashed back down, stomach groaning in protest.

Akihiko raised a bemused eyebrow in reply. "Come on. Can't have you throwing up all the good stuff." He fished something out of a pocket and tossed it at my head. "Indigestion tablets. Chewable."

…Why was he carrying those around? Still, they were exactly what I needed. I popped one out, chewed and swallowed, taking care to not gag. "Thank you."

"Don't sweat it. You already know what's coming, and we all need you at your best. Finish up. Then we can go."

"You know, I'm pretty sure that I can't eat any more."

Akihiko replied by looking at me in a way that can only be described as a father looking expectantly at a child. I swallowed. He wasn't going to let this go. On the other hand, I wasn't in an optimal state to eat anything for at least a day. The two conflicting issues were… problematic.

Well, if Akihiko wasn't here, then I wouldn't have to eat it. "Don't wait for me. I'll only slow you down."

He didn't miss a beat. "You're part of SEES now. We don't leave people behind."

Damn. What other excuses… "Oh no! I suddenly remembered that I'm allergic to wheat, and I need to get back to hospital right now or I'll die…"

"They use rice noodles here."

…Damn. Lyra, do you have any ideas?

_Well, you could inflict some wounds on yourself and force yourself to hospital. You can easily rip out the veins in your wrists with your teeth, or you could use the chopsticks to gouge out one of your eyes. I'd recommend the right._

And what if I'm not feeling completely insane?

_Then just eat the damn noodles already._

Well, thanks a lot for that input.

_You're welcome._

At this point, the only thing on my mind was to stall for time – either I'd think up a viable excuse, or my stomach would just clear up enough for another few bites to keep him satisfied. I was about to change the conversation subject when the shop door swung open behind me, and Akihiko's eyes lit up. "Be right back," he quickly spoke. "Don't leave until you've finished."

He'd walked for about three steps when I swapped my bowl with an empty one lying on the next table, somehow not throwing up in the process. The classic switcheroo. No-one will ever know.

Curiosity then made me check what had attracted Akihiko's attention. He'd walked up to the counter and taken a seat next to semi-familiar figure in a dark trenchcoat, wearing a surprisingly sinister beanie. They weren't arguing, but from their postures, it looked like their conversation was on the cynical end of the scale.

…Akihiko just ordered another bowl of ramen. That appetite could not be natural. Seriously, how was his stomach even intact?

While I was pondering this, something shifted in their conversation, and they turned and looked at me. Beanie man – he was definitely the guy from that time in the hospital – had an especially doubting, critical look on his face. Even at this distance, I felt the urge to swallow nervously. I settled for giving a tentative wave of the hand.

Beanie man snorted and turned back to Akihiko. Their conversation continued to stutter for a few more minutes, before beanie man finished his up his noodles, muttered something under his breath and left. Akihiko could only shake his head.

"Who was that?" I asked as he got back. Whoever he was, if Akihiko and Junpei had both dealt with him in the past, then he might have had some history with SEES.

"You asked that before," he countered. "Like I said, he's a friend from school. Sort of. Anyway, where are your noodles?"

"I finished them."

"…Right." Akihiko picked up my bowl, placed it on a nearby table, picked up the half-bowl of ramen lying on the same table, and put that bowl in front of me. "Did you really think it would be that easy?"

Damn. "How did you know?"

"Three reasons. One, I heard you moving around as I was walking away, so I knew something was up. Two, there was a piece of coriander in that bowl, and that's not in the special.

"And three, the two bowls you swapped were different colours. Now, eat."

…Damn.

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Emperor Arcana…**_

* * *

Friday. Four days to go.

Was still bloated from the day before. Attempted to go to the gym. Completely failed. Rio was sympathetic. Settled for crawling back to the dorm. Slumped on sofa. Attempted to sleep. Failed. Still too bloated. Wasted several hours doing absolutely nothing productive, then tried to sleep again. Failed again. Eventually, I decided to go play card games.

Format of the day: booster draft. Since detailed analyses of the strategic nuances of trading card games probably aren't what you're looking for, this is another bit I'll skip over. Earlier, I'd noticed that Isako wasn't there – not entirely unsurprising, given that teaching was a full-time job and all that. I was looking over the cards I'd drafted when she eventually arrived.

She seemed to see me before anyone else, as she came straight over and slumped on a seat next to mine. Her incredibly professional greeting to me was a succinct, "Plffblfttttt."

I tried to downplay the smirk creeping across my lips. "Looks like someone's being melodramatic."

"Urgh," was her equally professional reply. "You don't know half of it. A quarter. Two fifths? I don't know." She gave a remarkably deep, resigned sigh. "I flunked all my maths exams when I was school."

It took a moment to fully process that train of thought. "Is something going on at the school?" Most problems are probably work related.

Isako sat up slightly straighter in her chair and looked at me in the eye (this might have meant to be intimidating, but the effect was lost as her head was tilted to the side like a curious child). "You know that finals for this term are coming up quickly, right?"

…"No." Well, I did now. This would just have to be another thing to deal with after Tuesday.

"Winging it, then?" Isako smiled, albeit tiredly. "I was like that, once. Maybe that was why I never passed maths. Can't wing things now, though. Professional life sucks. Do you know just how much paperwork we all need to do? It's terrifying."

"Huh. Is it really that bad?"

Her reply was swift. "Yes. Yes it is. No-one likes paperwork, even if they're insane. Paperwork is terrible. I mean, just for each student, there's at least half a dozen forms that need to be read, reread, sealed, signed in triplicate, sent off, and returned to you when it turns out that you signed it wrong. It is the single worst part of being a teacher."

Curious. "That sounds like you're getting dissatisfied with your job."

"No, no, no," she quickly backtracked, waving her hands around for emphasis; an extra hint of conviction also rose into her voice. "I still love it. It's what I always wanted to do, since I was a kid. Just not the paperwork." A quick roll of the eyes. "This time, I guess I just got bored of signing things? Still got two telephone-directories-worth of things to plough through, due Monday. Haven't had to bring work home in years."

While it may have been somewhat hypocritical for me to do so, largely because I didn't do most of the work that was set for me by the teachers, I couldn't help but tease her slightly. "Now you know how the other half feels."

Right here, what I said seemed to strike a fuse. Most of her tiredness seemed to evaporate, being quickly replaced with an almost-manic grin. "Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions, Minato-kun. One advantage from working from home is that you can do it while drunk." To highlight this, she proudly dug out a can of something from her bag. "Sweet, sweet beer, the nectar for life. You'll find its truths when you're older." She promptly downed it in one.

Huh. My homeroom teacher may or may not have been a binge drinker. You learn interesting things every day. "Are you even allowed to drink in here?"

In response, she pulled out another can and threw in in my general direction.

I let it land on the ground and roll away. "You know, as a teacher, I'm not sure that you should be supplying minors with alcohol."

She blinked a few times, and then facepalmed. "Sorry. Force of habit. It's useful advice for life, though: you can solve most problems in life by throwing beer at them. It certainly stops people from asking that question – enough beer, and they're in on it with you. Don't tell anyone, okay?"

"Sure." Blackmail wasn't worth it. "Just give me a couple of extra marks in the test, though." Collusion, however, was perfectly fine.

"You drive a hard bargain, Minato-kun." The tone of her voice showed that it really wasn't one. "Very well. You have yourself a deal."

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Hermit Arcana…**_

"By the way," I picked up after the time pause, "I'd like a second opinion here." I turned back to the cards scattered on the table "What do you think the last card for the deck should be?"

"Well, that depends on what you have." She stood up and looked over my card pool. A frown quickly rose across her face. "You were drafting full Alara Block, right?"

"Yep."

"How on Earth did you manage to draft a monocoloured deck?"

* * *

Saturday. Three days to go.

Finished digesting ramen. Went to gym. Did not fall off treadmill. Felt like I was making progress. Attempted to jog. Failed miserably. Fell off treadmill. Got depressed and went back to the dorm.

Nothing else of note happened.

* * *

Sunday. Two days to go.

Went for a walk. Ran into Rio on a jog; exchanged quick greetings, then walked off. Was convinced to give half my money to Tahitian orphans by attractive charity girl. Did not have enough left for any large quantity of food. After some consideration, I decided to go to the ramen place again. Medium servings weren't too expensive.

It was a Sunday lunchtime, so the restaurant was crowded. All the tables were full, mostly with students making the most of a day without school, so the only free seat I could see was one right by the counter. Ordinarily, this wouldn't have been an issue, except for the person in the seat next to it.

It was a tall figure wearing a surprisingly sinister beanie.

I strongly considered just turning around and getting lunch somewhere else, but then my stomach growled. Besides, everywhere else would probably be even more full than this. I decided to screw it, and just took the seat next to him.

I politely avoided looking at him as I sat down. "One medium extra-spice spice bowl, please."

Order done, there was a distinct 'tsk' from somewhere nearby, and I turned to see beanie man shaking his head. I frowned. "Do you have a problem with that?"

In retrospect, using a confrontational tone with someone a good half head taller than me may not have been a good idea. He gave me a death glare – not a piercing glare, like one of Mitsuru's, but a much cruder one, like being bludgeoned by a sack of bricks. "Yes. Yes I do." Gulp. "I see it all the time. Sticking to the noodles. Never getting a balanced intake of nutrients."

…That was his objection? "Erm…" I tried to point this out, but I was cut off by another sack of bricks. This was serious stuff. Probably safer to just go with the flow. "Okay… I'll get some meat as well."

"Tsk." If anything, that seemed to make him more annoyed. "You're just like Aki. Protein starch, protein, starch… where are the vegetables? Where are your vitamins?"

Was Aki some nickname for Akihiko? Probably, and I wanted to ask, but the pressure of bricks was not lowering. "Okay, I'll get some salad as well…" The overall experience was both surreal and terrifying. Forcing myself to eat food I didn't want, or bigger and tougher people would wipe the floor with me. Part of my life now.

_Hey, if Fuuka's not cooking anymore, then you won't be force-feeding yourself anything. Someone's got to pick up the slack._

At the very least, beanie man seemed to be satisfied and returned to his food with a dismissive grunt. A few minutes later, my noodles arrived, accompanied a generic green salad and some stir-fried strips of pork. Well, I think it was pork. While I was a better cook than Fuuka, cuisine was not (and still isn't) one of my strong points. It was still good, though.

Beanie man was walking through a significantly larger bowl than me, so even with the sides, I finished. He didn't react in any way to me paying up and leaving. The walk back to the dorms was uneventful.

Honestly, I could have skipped over this day entirely, if time hadn't stopped right as I was leaving the restaurant.

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Hierophant Arcana…**_

It took until I was halfway back to the dorms for it to sink in that I hadn't actually made a new Social Link.

* * *

Monday. One day to go.

School nurse/psychologist gave lecture on god-knows-what again. Had forgotten about his open offer to talk to him. Still did not feel any inclination to.

I didn't go to the gym after school, as I felt that getting back earlier and taking some more rest would be more appropriate. On the way back, satisfied that walking was okay, I decided to try moving faster again; power walking was almost feasible, jogging still wasn't, and running was completely out of the question. An extra night's sleep might not help much, but everything counts. To that end, I went to bed early again.

I was drifting off to sleep when I realised that Elizabeth probably had a new flamethrower ready for me, and I'd forgotten to collect it. Damn.

Oh well. One more thing to do tomorrow.


	22. Chapter 21

A/N: Minor updates: changed one line in Chapter 11 for some very light foreshadowing, and added some lines to Chapter 17 to reference how the game refers to Fuuka as telepathic. Also corrected some typos.

* * *

So, Tuesday. New day, new large Shadow, new things trying to kill me.

After spending the day making sure I didn't strain myself, we gathered in the meeting-room shortly before the Dark Hour. Finding the Shadow was surprisingly easy – Fuuka only had to reverse-engineer her Persona abilities for a few minutes, and she found a strong presence on the other side of town.

After Fuuka gave some more details (the street it was on was called Shirakawa Boulevard), there was a wave of small, knowing remarks from others in the room. Maybe I should have paid more attention them. It would have made me slightly less surprised when we reached our destination.

"This is a love hotel."

"Didn't you hear the chairman?" Junpei said. Standing up slightly straighter, he quoted, "'They're no different from ordinary hotels, the rooms are just a bit fancier, that's all.'"

"Because openly advertising your rooms have waterbeds is a sign of class."

"Of course. And that sign saying 'Strawberry, chocolate, and more flavours available free of charge!' just shows what great ice-cream selection they have."

From somewhere behind us, there was the sound of face meeting palm.

"You have to say that that's kind of a bold sign to put up in public."

"Well, this place also apparently serves the second-best ice cream in town. Sure, it's probably just so they didn't have to take the sign down when people complained, but still, it's true."

"Interesting. Do you know if they have stracciatella?"

At this point, there was the loud, distinct sound of someone clearing their throat. We both turned to see Mitsuru, glaring daggers at us. Maybe not the most serrated daggers, but daggers nonetheless. Besides, her subsequent tone left no room for manoeuvre. "We can have this discussion later."

Ulp. "Alright, then… let's go?"

While I was waiting for some sort of confirmation, Mitsuru took everyone else and entered the lobby. I could only shake my head and follow wordlessly. If there was any idea that I was still the acting field leader of SEES, it was completely dead now.

Fuuka began talking as soon as I caught up. "There's a powerful Shadow on the third floor. Please head there… Minato-kun? What are you looking at?"

On entering, one thing immediately caught my eye. "The interior walls." While the walls here were significantly more constricting than in Tartarus, creating narrower corridors, that wasn't the issue. "They're made of wood."

They all quickly got it. Yes, using a military-grade flamethrower in here would probably be a bad idea.

I sighed. All that effort spent smuggling it back to the dorm without getting arrested, gone to waste. "Fuuka, I'm going to leave it here." At the very least, I'd remembered to bring a sword today, and I still had my Compendium – though, come to think of it, giant explosions probably weren't a good idea, either. To avoid running out of Personas like last time, I'd flicked to some random pages and pre-called a few into my head; that was just more wasted effort now. Oh well. "Let's go, then."

No words were exchanged as we walked up the two flights of stairs. Fuuka pointed us to the right door, and the five of us stood outside, rallying for what was to come.

"Are we ready?" Mitsuru asked. Her face was the same collected mask as always.

Well, without my main weapons, I was as ready as I was ever going to be. I gave a thumbs up. Everyone else gave similar signs of confirmation. Yukari seemed the most nervous, but the nod she gave was still firm.

Mitsuru gave a satisfied smile. "Très bien. Akihiko, would you like the honour of being the vanguard?"

His mouth widened into a grin. "You got it." He paced a few steps back, took a deep breath, broke into a run and barged the door down with a flying kick.

He was immediately floored with a bolt of lightning. Not the most auspicious of starts.

Ignoring the others, I ploughed into the room next. The first thing I noticed was that the room was huge. Then I remembered that there was a giant Shadow in the same room as me, and that I probably shouldn't be focussing on the room. Then I actually saw the Shadow.

'Grotesque' was the word that came to mind. The Shadow resembled a man. I say resembled, because if it was a man, it would be so grossly obese that its heart likely would have collapsed by now. Wearing the mask of the Hierophant Arcana, waves of fat rolling with its every movement, it appeared to be seated, as if there was some sort of chair in the world that could actually support its weight. Behind it was standing another figure, entirely beige, again resembling a person – this one, a woman. The resemblance was weaker, though, as where its head should have been, there was instead a shrivelled, garbled mess of what could only be described as discarded offal. In front of it were two crucifix-like structures, shaking on their own accord. The not-woman and crucifixes didn't seem to have masks, so I guessed they were extensions of the fat thing.

Then it was made clear to me that I'd stayed in the same place too long, as I took a thunderbolt to the face. While it wasn't as bad as it could have been (I'd gone to the toilet before we'd left), a thousand volts or so coursing through your body is still not a pleasant feeling. I fell to the ground, face first.

_Come on. The electrical burns were nothing compared to what's happened before, and you've survived much bigger screw-ups to your nervous system than that._

Those aren't exactly good things, you know.

_I know. I'm just reminding you to get back up before you have to tank more lightning with your face._

Alright, then. My muscles had stopped twitching enough for me to push myself back to the feet. In the time I'd been on the floor, everyone else had entered and presumably also been hit by lightning bolts, as Junpei and Mitsuru were getting up as well, while Yukari was still completely flat on the floor. On the plus side, Akihiko had bounced back to his feet, and was punching away at the Shadow. The way its fat rippled was moderately horrifying.

Wait, rippling? Damn you, laws of physics. "Akihiko, the fat's absorbing most of the force! Just punching it's going to do next to nothing!"

"Damnit." I could tell his face was scowling as he dodged a crude arm swing. "Well, come on then." He dug out his Evoker. "Polydeuces!"

Akihiko's Persona appeared in a cloud of blue light, fighting the Hierophant's lightning with its own. The bolt promptly bounced off and hit Akihiko in the face, making him fall to the ground again.

Well, at least we knew electricity wasn't going to work.

"Honestly…" Mitsuru shook her head. "Iori, get up close. Arisato, check on Takeba. Akihiko, do what you can to support us. Come, Penthesilea!"

I didn't need to wait and see jagged lumps of ice skewering the Shadow, drawing first blood and shrieks of pain, nor Junpei charging in and hacking away at its legs with his katana. I turned, and saw that Yukari still hadn't got up off the floor. That much was worrying. I quickly ran over. "Yukari? Are you alright?"

"Urgh…" Her voice was groggy, but she found the strength to sit up straight. "My head… I… me and electricity just don't mix. Sorry."

"No problem." I leant out a hand and pulled her up. "We could do with some fire support here, though."

She smiled. "You've got it." Shaking her head clear, she readied her bow, drew back an arrow, and fired.

It was a miss, and a perfect hit. It missed the main Shadow, just grazing its neck, but barrelled straight through the middle of the not-head of the thing behind it, eventually lodging in the wall. The entire thing screamed in pain regardless, and Yukari pumped a fist in the air in celebration.

Then another round of lightning hit everyone, and I collapsed again.

_Maybe you should consider trying to stay on your feet after getting hit._

I'm getting tons of lightning poured into my body. Of course my nervous system is going to complain and make me collapse.

_Your sword's made of metal, isn't it? Try using it as an earthing rod._

That's… not actually a bad idea. I mean, I don't know if it will work, but it's worth a shot. I kept it in mind as I climbed back to my feet.

After helping a dazed Yukari up, I turned back to the Shadow. My evaluation of the situation quickly fell. Both Junpei and Mitsuru had chosen to take it close and personal; that hadn't paid off. Still semi-stunned, the Shadow was taking advantage to beat them to pulp. What made it worse was that the two cross-things had closed in to cut off their retreat. Akihiko was doing his best to get them out, but it wouldn't be enough.

_Draw them in with a façade of weakness, trap them with power and symbols, and bind them forever to your will. Now what does that remind you of?_

I didn't have the time to muse philosophically. "Yukari, cover me. I'll pull them back. Make sure to heal them." Knowing she'd follow – common sense – I shot forward.

My knee protested, but I arrived before it became unbearable. I pulled out my sword and rammed straight it into the closest cross. A jolt seemed to immediately shoot through the Hierophant, as it began spasming and screaming in pain.

Press the attack. Pull out, stab. Pull out, stab. Pull out, stab. Each time, more screams.

Eventually, I figured I created enough of an opening, and I ducked in and pulled out Junpei. Akihiko had also taken the opportunity to punch down the other cross, and he'd pulled out Mitsuru. "Thank you both," she said, ignoring the slight trail of blood dribbling down her chin.

"No problem. Akihiko, make sure they're alright. I'm going in." Pulling out my sword again and kicking the cross for the hell of it, I charged. Again my knee protested, but I pushed the pain aside.

Junpei and Mitsuru had done a good job – the Shadow was covered in deep, leaking wounds all over its legs and abdomen. I quickly added another one, driving steel into where leg met body. If we kept this up, it would have no chance.

The Shadow took offence to getting stabbed, shrieking again and swinging its arms like harvesting scythes. There was no skill, though. Even with the knee, dodging was easy. For its efforts, it earned several more cuts to its arms, and another stabwound.

It was weakening. We had the advantage. We could do it. That didn't stop us from being floored by another wave of lightning bolts.

_Didn't you say you were trying to stay on your feet?_

Yes, but it's kind of hard to predict when it's actually going to try bolt us. Sticking my sword in the ground all the time seems counter-productive.

_Fair enough. By the way, move._

Could you – Gurk.

As Mitsuru and Junpei had earlier demonstrated, you don't need skill to hit a stationary target, as the force of a sledgehammer rammed into my back. Strangely, though, it wasn't that bad. I'd had worse from smashing into walls at high speeds – which, in itself, was kind of worrying, but whatever. It wasn't completely debilitating, and I bounced back to my feet before I got beaten up any more.

Then I got floored . Electricity spam. It's trying to stunlock us.

I got to my feet before I got beaten up any more. Time to see if this grounding rod hypothesis actually works… ow. No, it doesn't. Floored again.

Lyra, how many lightning bolts can my body take before I die horribly?

_Enough._

Well, thanks for that input.

_Hey, it's only lightning. Nothing special. Just electrostatic discharge from one bit of the sky to another. Just deal within any which way._

What are you… oh, I get it. When you're caught in a thunderstorm, lay low. Clever.

Well, I thought it was clever. Turns out, staying on your hands and knees doesn't do much more than limit your mobility, while restricting the area you can stab. After only inflicting some superficial wounds to its ankles, it smashed me in the back again. Partially dazed, I barely avoided its foot coming down to crush my head.

_You didn't get it._

Yes, I think I noticed. What were you getting at?

_Well, I would refer you to episode fifty-eight of the Pokémon anime at this point – I have my sources – but since I know you haven't watched it, I won't. Instead, let's use basic physics. How do you stop buildings from being overly damaged during thunderstorms?_

…That made sense. Rolling out of the way of another stomp, I turned back to the others. "Yukari! You need to get some arrows in its chest, right now!"

"Huh?" All the lightning meant she was barely standing on her feet, but she drew anyway. "Okay…" She fired. An arrow lodged roughly where its heart should be. Perfect.

I sprung back to my feet, and immediately started slashing it up again, just daring it to bolt me.

It did.

The arrow jutting out was a perfect lightningrod. The bolt that would have hit me hit it instead, sending all of its power straight into the Shadow. Polydeuces' bolts might have bounced off its skin, but this one went straight in. Wild convulsions, shrieking wails, and the room filled with the acrid scent of burning meat.

Boom. "Did you see that?" I shouted into the air, turning back to everyone else. They didn't reply; they'd been floored again. Oh well. I returned to the stabbing, ripping out another black gash in its stomach.

Then, out of nowhere, the Shadow started laughing.

The laughter was… cold. Bitter. Cruel. Vicious. It was like a twisted child slowly tearing the organs out of a rabbit, or an omnicidal maniac plunging a knife into your spine again and again, or a blond youth without a shirt smirking happily as you slowly bled away on the floor in front of him, or an one-eyed abomination hunting you down, the rattle of cold iron coming from all directions, so you don't know what way's safe, and then you see him, lone eye staring into your soul, and you turn and try to run but then the bullets fly and your legs give way and still you're desperately trying to crawl to safety but it never comes and he never stops and more bullets just keep eating your flesh and you have to keep going but you can't and you start panicking which just makes the bleeding worse and all the while the rattling just keeps coming closer and closer and closer until you know the true meaning of fear and i need to get away from here

The notion of honour fled my mind. I turned and ran. I made five steps, before a cross got in the way – its a nightmare and i did this and i made all those wounds and its still alive and i created a monster – I drove straight into it and just kept running

theyre going to chase me and im scared and i dont want this

"Io!"

…'Something' washed over me. It felt… warm. Sweet. Kind. Gentle. The exact opposite of the laughter. More like the essence of soft kittens than anything else. In any case, the fear left. I wasn't in Tartarus, being hunted down by the Reaper. No. I could deal with this.

Making a mental note to thank Yukari later, I rallied myself again. Ahead of me, Junpei dove straight back in, cleaving out more gaping holes. So it can make us feel fear? No. I won't give it that opportunity. I am stronger than that. I will know no fear.

I'd left my sword by the Shadow's feet. I cracked my knuckles and charged.

I managed to get three-quarters of the way before pain, pain and more pain shot out through my body, and I collapsed. Once regained some lucidity, I looked at the source, and almost threw up. Knee. It had been in the back of my mind; that hadn't been enough. Knees should not bend sideways.

Then the Hierophant started laughing again. This laughter was… different. It was just as cold, but less savage, and more… hollow. It was more like coming across your own frozen grave on a frozen winter day, or coming back home to find your lover left you with nothing more than an emotionless scrap of paper as consolation, or waking up one morning to find that your life lost all of its meaning and that everything you've done was a lie made for a cruel joke by things that care less about you than the dirt and dust you stand on and no no no nononono

i cant stand and i cant run but i need to get away so all i can do is crawl but theyre going to catch me and im scared and make it stop

I pulled out my Evoker. It wasn't a gun, but maybe, just maybe… I pressed it to my head, and pulled the trigger.

Everything exploded.

The next few seconds were a garbled blur of force, flying, crashing, and broken bones. When my head cleared, the fear had passed again, to be replaced with total deafness and blood tricking out of my ears, as well as some feeling of general wrongness – not the body-being-screwed-up type, more just a sensation that something wasn't quite right.

The explosion had also taken a toll on the room. Before, it had been reasonably organised, even with the fight. Now, though, almost all the furniture was reduced to little more than splinters. Fragments of glass from blown-out lights covered the floor, wood and metal dotted the walls, most of the floor was wet from the ruptured waterbed, and the only things which had any semblance of still being intact were a few mirrors and wall hangings.

Everyone else looked similarly beaten. Like with me, blood was leaking from all their ears; I tried shouting for their attention, to no avail. It had to be four pairs – five including me – of ruptured eardrums. Yukari was moving around, healing up the bruises and what breaks she could, currently focussed on Mitsuru. Akihiko had whacked his head on something, judging from the cut on his forehead, but otherwise looked fine; several lumps of shrapnel, meanwhile, had embedded into Junpei, and he was trying to remove them without tearing anything major.

Above all else, though, the thing that had suffered the most damage was the Shadow. Half of it was just… gone. Where once was Shadow, instead was a leaking, cavernous, abyssal crater. Whatever the explosion was, it had been severe.

…Lyra, this is the point where you explain what that explosion was.

_I'll explain later, after everything's done tonight. Same as usual. Until then, look down._

Why – oh, god. This time, I threw up for real.

Now I knew why I'd felt wrong. My knee had been bending sideways. It wasn't any more. Because all that was holding it in place was a tiny scrap of skin.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

_Relax. Panicking will just make you bleed faster. Maybe telling you to walk it off was a bit ambitious, but I'll deal with this, don't worry._ _With that said, though, you're going to need to press it close, and to not move at all._

Okay. Okay. That much… wasn't fine, but better than nothing. I rolled up my courage, grabbed my mostly-detached limb and pressed it in.

I was immediately met with a wave of pure wrongness. It felt more nauseating than I remembered; several times I almost let go in shock. I forced myself to keep it together, though, and held back the bile as it crept down my leg, bursting out and linking with the lump of severed flesh.

There are many things which are difficult to describe in words themselves – being set on fire by an exploding fuel tank, for example. In many cases like these, taking a less literal stance is usually useful – with the fire example, I could describe it as being bathed in Surtr's flames, and though nobody really knows what that feels like, the colourful imagery helps convey the intense pain.

With this, though… no. Just, no. This was indescribable on a whole new level. No matter how many times removed you go, the words to recount it still collapse. It is a sensation beyond alien to humans, that nothing could ever hope to describe. The only thing that even came close to any measure of explanation was that it was wrong, plain and simple.

When the feeling finally stopped and faded, my leg was attached again, as if it had never left.

_There we go. I also patched up the worst of the bone breaks for you, so Yukari can take the rest._

Right on cue, there followed the tingling sensation of being healed. A hand reached out in front of me, and pulled me up. Akihiko, fully patched up. "Impressive. What did you do?"

"I have no idea."

"Figures. Sometimes, the best tactics are made up on the spot." He then turned his attention back to the Shadow. "What should we do about this?"

All this time, the Shadow hadn't moved. All it had done was sit there, oozing ichor. Slumped in its chair, all it could do was wait for a final blow.

Saying nothing, I walked up to it, picking up my sword, still by its feet. "In the name of SEES, I sentence you to oblivion."

_Was that really the best one-liner you could come up with?_

Well, I suppose you can do better than that.

_Of course. How about, 'Death will be the end of you.'_

That's completely irrelevant and makes little sense.

_It's also completely true._

No, for something to die, it needs to be alive in the first place, and I highly doubt that Shadows count as living organisms.

_You really want to get into the semantics of this? Okay. First…_

"Hermes!"

In a flash of blue and gold, the Persona in question rammed into the Shadow. It immediately imploded in a cloud of black gore. Only most of that gore ended up on me.

I turned to face Junpei. "What was that for?"

He scratched his head as he tucked his Evoker away. "Well, you were standing there for a while, so I guessed the Shadow might have had some mind control powers or something? If it didn't, sorry for stealing your kill."

Part of me admitted that I would have relished the glory, but I pushed it aside. "No problem. It's dead now, and that's what matters."

Mitsuru seemed pleased at my reaction, putting on a small smile. "I applaud all of you for your efforts. I am sure that you are all tired. We should return now and get some rest."

"Sounds good to me." I started walking towards the door.

"Um, Minato-kun… what happened to your trouser leg?"

"No comment." I leant down on the door, and gave it a good pull.

It didn't budge. Push, then… nope. Still nothing. Akihiko and Junpei confirmed it. The door wasn't budging. "Does anyone have any ideas?"

"…ryone!…" A voice chimed in. Fuuka. I hadn't noticed it, but we hadn't heard from her in a while. "There's anot… dow in the room! It's hid… opping me from connec… you have… feat it!" The mental silence returned.

I played her garbled message over in my head, trying to fill in the blanks. "Another Shadow?"

Mitsuru frowned, looking at the state of the room. "It has to be. But where would it be hiding?" Without needing any direct commands, we started searching.

Rubble, nothing. Remains of the bed, nothing. Rubble, painting, broken mirror, rubble, tapestry, mirror that doesn't show people's reflections, rubble, more rubble, nothing.

…Wait a minute…

* * *

Warm water ran over my skin. We'd had to postpone our two-month anniversary for a few days, but now we were celebrating it, I wanted the night with Yukari to be entirely perfect.

…Was that right? It almost feels like I had something else, something important to do.

_Embrace your desires…_

No, it can't be. What would be more important than spending time with my girlfriend?

The nagging feeling didn't fully disappear, though, as I started rubbing some shampoo into my hair.

_That which cannot be felt is merely a dream… live for the present, as it is all we have…_

Maybe I was just nervous? I'd mostly suggested Shirakawa as a joke, not expecting her to agree. When she did…

Come to think of it, would it be her to ever agree to something like that?

_Let desire free you from your shackles… such is my wish…_

Well, obviously she did, otherwise we wouldn't be here. I turned off the tap and let most of the water drip off before stepping out.

…Something about this seems off. Why is everything green? It kills the mood.

_You stand before the doorway to bliss… you cannot deny your instincts…_

That would be something to talk to the management about, but I wouldn't let it ruin the night. I wrapped a towel around my waist – I wanted to keep some surprise, after all – and stepped into the main room.

"Minato-kun?" Yukari was sitting on the edge of the bed, still in her normal school uniform. Did she want to role-play? Even if she didn't, though, that outfit was better than any other. It suited her more than anything else.

Even so, she still turned away when she saw that I was only in a towel. A beautiful shade of red crossed her cheeks. "Umm… are you sure you're alright, Minato-kun?"

I slowly walked up to her, taking care to not let the towel drop. When she looked like saying something else, I gently pressed a finger to her lips. "Of course I'm alright. I'm here with you."

If anything, the red deepened. Any words were again cut off, this time by my lips crashing into hers. The subtle taste of cherry on her lips, fingers running through her soft hair, tongues gentling mingling in her mouth, her loving body pressed against my bare chest… for a moment, everything was perfect.

Then she bit me.

I juddered backwards, drops of blood trailing from my mouth. I didn't have to hide the feeling of betrayal, in my eyes or my voice. "But… but… I thought…"

In response, she got up and slapped me several times. "Get." Really hard. "A." In the face. "Grip." She rounded it off my kneeing me in the gut, before slapping me again for good measure.

"Okay, okay, you can stop it now!" I finally regained my sense at around the fifth slap. No, this wasn't a date, we were just trapped in the love hotel. Great.

_Finally, I'm getting through to you. Never thought I'd see the day when something would block me from your mind, but I'm back. Did you miss me?_

No, not really.

"Do you hear me?" another voice echoed. "Minato-kun, Yukari-chan, if either of you can hear me, give me a sign!"

"I can hear you, Fuuka." Yukari said something similar.

There was an audible sigh of relief. "I can finally reach you. The Shadow was interfering with your thoughts, and you all got separated. I'll send the others to your position right now."

"Okay." Part of me wondered how she'd heard us shouting from wherever she was; another part reminded me that it just one of things which we'd never questioned, and swept it under the rug.

I stopped pondering when the room door opened. "Ther – " Junpei attempted to begin, before quickly shutting up and staring. Akihiko and Mitsuru were similarly silent.

…I'm still only wearing a towel, aren't I?

I definitely, definitely didn't start garishly blushing when I realised this. I was completely composed as I carefully walked back to the bathroom, and took my time in putting my clothes back on. Yes. Definitely.

While I was getting dressed again (the fact that my boxers seemed to have been hidden was worrying), Fuuka started talking again. "I didn't expect there would be another Shadow. I'm sorry I couldn't get through to you earlier. The Shadow's still in the same room as earlier, but it managed to seal the door. I'm still looking for a way to break it, so hold on for a moment."

"Okay." I stepped back into the main room, meeting everyone else's stares. "Absolutely nothing happened here."

"Really."

"He-he's right!" Yukari blurted out. "Really. Nothing weird happened to us or anything!"

"Besides," I added, "if something weird happened to us, then similar things would have happened to you, right?"

Like that, the questioning died, as the others quickly began staring into space. I noted that Junpei and Akihiko were trying especially hard not to meet each other's eyes. Huh. So the Shadow was also into that sort of thing. Also, Mitsuru was looking just as traumatised as those two. What had she done by herself?

I was pondering the issue (the first guess I had was 'octopus') when Fuuka broke the train of thought. "I found it!" It would just have to be another thing I never knew. "The mirrors in the building are giving off the same energy as the Shadow! If you break them, the seal might vanish."

'Might'. Alternatively, we could just get seven years of curses from evil pixies. Still, we had nothing else to go on. Better than nothing. "Okay. I'll start with the one in this room." I walked over to where a large mirror was hanging, carefully took it off the wall, put it on the floor (glass facing down – don't want cuts, after all), jumped up, and rammed my feet into the back of it.

* * *

Warm water ran over my skin. We'd had to postpone our two-month anniversary for a few days, but now we were celebrating it, I wanted the night with Yukari to be entirely perfect.

…Something definitely felt wrong with that statement, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

_Embrace your desires…_

Should I? Last time, it ended with Yukari biting my tongue and slapping me over and over…

Hold on. When had that happened? It… it felt so clear, and yet so fuzzy… something didn't add up.

_Memory is but a fabrication… pleasure is what you truly want…_

Is it, though? I mean, I'm seventeen years old and have a Y-chromosome, but just pleasure? I'd like to think I'm more than that…

A flash of pain twinged through my head.

_Why do you fight it? Let desire take you to a greater place…_

Why… really, why am I fighting? It would be so much easier to curl up and let the world go by… maybe I can try that, just now. If I don't like it, I can always quit, right?

_#^%!#^!{{}!$^&amp;^$ %! ~~~~~~~~~~~_

Gah! What the hell was that?

_There we go. When you can't get meaningful thoughts through, blast them with white noise and see what happens._

Great. Thanks for the warning, as usual. At least my head's clear now. I stepped out of the shower, wiped myself dry, got dressed again and headed out.

Everyone else was already there; Junpei and Akihiko were trying even harder to avoid each other's stares. I sighed. "I'm okay. Do we have any idea why breaking the mirror did nothing?"

"Minato-kun…" Fuuka chimed in. "While you were out, I did some more scanning. I got a bit excited earlier… not all of them feel like the Shadow. Some definitely do, though. You have to break the ones which don't show your reflection, okay?"

"Understood, Yamagishi," Mitsuru answered for me. "You heard her. Let's go."

A few smaller Shadows had started crawling around, but we disposed of those without incident. All in all, we found two reflectionless mirrors. Being able to see straight through where your body should have been was more than slightly unnerving. The weird black sludge that leaked out after we broke them didn't help, either.

"You broke the seal! You should be able to defeat that Shadow now."

Thus, we once again stood by the door to the room. "Are we ready?" Mitsuru asked again. We all nodded. "This will be it. Let's go!" She gave a sign, Akihiko kicked the door down again, and we rushed in.

The room was in the same sorry state as we left it, with rubble and scrap and ichor lying about everywhere. The main difference, of course, was the new Shadow. It could be succinctly described as a giant, gelatinous, winged heart, leaking red liquid all over the floor, with additional spikes for value. If the shape didn't give it away, the mask it had perched above was that of the Lovers Arcana.

Rather quickly, another large change happened, as about two seconds after entering, the Shadow engulfed the entire room with fire.

Wooden walls, remember?

Nobody found being set on fire a pleasant experience. In particular, Mitsuru lost her composure and tried to start screaming, but failed as the flames slowly sucked all the air out of her lungs. Junpei, though, was the least affected, drawing his katana and bursting out while the rest of us were still dazed. That was enough for the Shadow to let off from the flames; some ice from Penthesilea, some healing from Io and some rolling on the floor later, we were ready again.

Wait. Why was Junpei standing still? Halfway to the Shadow, he'd abruptly stopped and turned back to face us. I started walking towards him, keeping an eye on the enemy. "Junpei? Are you alright?"

In response, he attempted to decapitate me.

"Arisato, watch out! Iori is charmed! He's under the enemy's control!"

Come to think of it, the pinkish glow in his eyes might have served as a warning sign, but I couldn't dwell. It was all I could do to not get decapitated or dismembered.

Even so, if you're avoiding lethal force, two hands are always going to beat one. A heavy swing broke my improvised guard, I overbalanced when dodging the follow-up, and found myself facing the ceiling. Before I could get up, a heavy foot planted into my chest, and a katana blade was pointed right between my eyes.

Great. Once again, impending death.

"Io! Quickly, Charmdi!"

…Charmdi? What was that supposed to be?

Something happened, though. Junpei started… glowing? Maybe not, but at the very least the pinkish tone in his eyes disappeared. He stared blankly into the air for a moment, then at the floor, then at his sword, then at me.

"Shit, shit!" he quickly got off me and stuck out a hand. "My bad. I didn't get you, right?"

I would have said yes and told him it wasn't his fault, but then something just twinged in my head.

_What right does he have to forgiveness? He would have been a murderer…_

That was right. Even if he hadn't been himself, he'd still tried to kill me. Ignorance was not an excuse. What if he lost control again? I had to end him, before that could happen.

…Are things turning pink? Nah. Has to be a trick of the light.

"Junpei, look out!"

I pulled out my sword and attempted to cut off his hand.

Unfortunately, he pulled out in time, and I only succeeded in scraping off some of his skin. "Wha– it got you too?" he uttered, halfway in disbelief.

I didn't reply, as I was too busy trying to cut out his intestines.

_Yes… Let vengeance carve the sheath for your blade…_

"Come on, dude, snap out of it!" Why would I do that? There's nothing for me to snap out of. It's not like I'm mind-controlled or anything. This is just justice.

The two of us continued to dance the dance of blades. Junpei wasn't bad, but when trying to avoid lethal force, one hand would always beat two. I feinted, he put too much force into his parry, and he was wide open for a strike to his throat.

Before I could take the opportunity, however, something crashed into the back of my head.

_Great. Turns out using white noise only works once. I'll look for other methods, but be careful._

I blinked, as the pink tinge cleared. My head cleared, and I reflected on what had just happened.

Shit. I'd almost killed my best friend.

My sword hand immediately dropped. "God. I… I don't know. Shit."

Junpei replied with a weary, wary smile. "Heh… no problem? I guess we're even now. Please don't do that again."

"I… I'll try." Nervously swallowing – I didn't want to think about what I could've done – I turned to see Akihiko, holding what looked like some shards of crushed gemstone. "I guess you broke me out of that?"

"Sure did." With a tilt of his head, he gestured to something behind him. "We could use your help over there, now."

Near where the entrance was, I saw why Yukari hadn't cured me like she'd cured Junpei. Even from this distance, I could tell her eyes were pink. She had pulled out several arrows, and was trying to turn Mitsuru into a sieve. "Right. What do I need to do?"

"Hold still."

Eh?

Oh, crap. His eyes have gone pink as well.

I hit the floor. Just in time – I felt the rush of air as his punch swung above my head. I looked up, and saw that Akihiko's fist had actually managed to crack the wall. I rolled out the way before he could kick me in the head. Seemingly dissatisfied, he turned his attention to Junpei as I got back up.

This battle was not going well.

_Interesting tactic from the Shadow. If you're all fighting each other, you're not killing it, and setting the room on fire establishes a firm clock before the building collapses or you die of smoke inhalation. Clever._

"Arisato!" Mitsuru shouted over another flurry of stabs. "You have to use a Dis-Charm!"

…Wait. "Sorry, but what the hell is a Dis-Charm?"

There was a very distinct pause. "What do you mean you don't know?!" Mitsuru let off a hiss as an arrow grazed her flank. "You should have come across at least twenty while exploring Tartarus!"

"You were monitoring us! Since when did I ever pay attention to what was lying on the floor? You should have been able to tell that I was too busy setting fire to things and trying to get money from invisible cards!"

At this point, Mitsuru let out some sort of garbled, unintelligible scream, and she actually headbutted Yukari in the face. "We'll have this discussion later! There are some in Akihiko's pocket. Get them and use them!"

Urgh. Getting into fist range of an elite boxer did not seem a good idea, but if it was the only option… "Junpei, did you hear that?"

"Got it." Junpei had ditched his katana, as two-handed weapons had proved to be especially useless up close against brass knuckles. Having dodged another flurry of jabs, he suddenly darted under and into Akihiko's follow-up hook, clasping onto his chest. Catching him off-guard, it gave me the opening to dart in and fish out two crystalline objects.

I guess these are the Dis-Charms. No idea. Let's try. Same way as worked for me, right?

I smashed one of them into Akihiko's scalp. He blinked a few times, pink rapidly fading, before gazing deeply into Junpei's eyes as the other boy held onto him for dear life.

I left them to deal with the fallout when they remembered what the Shadow (presumably) had made them do earlier. I quickly pivoted and bolted towards where Yukari was still attempting to murder Mitsuru.

This was simpler. With all her focus on the other girl, I broke the crystal on her head without any incident. The pink faded from her eyes as well. "I… sorry, sorry! I don't know what I was doing!"

"I will excuse that for now, Takeba," Mitsuru spoke, though the blood seeping into her blouse damaged the sense of composure. "Certainly, you were paying more attention to your surroundings than Arisato does in Tartarus."

Yes, I appreciate the thanks for saving your life. "Do we have to have this conversation now? I mean, there's a Shadow and all…"

"Yes. Yes, we do…" She had taken the 'immovable object' tone again. "A lack of awareness of such basic matters hampers not only your own safety, but that of everyone else as well. There can only be one thing for it." She looked me in the eye.

Crap. Her eyes were pink.

"Execution."

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but Mitsuru was the captain of the school's fencing team. She was, and still is, a far better swordsman (and/or swordswoman) than me. I bring this up, because by the time my hand was on my sword's hilt, preparing to parry, Mitsuru's rapier had already pierced through my left shoulder by more than two feet.

Maybe it wasn't the worst stabwound I'd ever suffered. It certainly wasn't an immediately fatal wound, that's for sure. That didn't stop the pain. It certainly didn't stop the bleeding. Or the screaming.

Behind me, an Evoker cracked. Mitsuru glowed; the colour faded. She let go of her rapier in shock. Words tumbled from her mouth. I didn't hear. I was still screaming.

Why? Why can't I survive a major battle without suffering at least one serious, probably-hospitalising injury? Why can't it be easy?

As if highlighting this point, something rammed into my back, around the base of my shoulder blades. There followed some sort of damp, wet, ripping sound, and a sharp, pinkish, arrow-like object burst out of my chest.

Yep. Reality is just taking the piss now.

_Do you understand now?… Fighting is an exercise in futility… cast it off… let you be yourself…_

That much was blatantly obvious. Looking back on it, why had I even signed up to this in the first place? I thought it would be interesting. Sure, it was, but now definitely felt like an appropriate time to stop.

"Look at his eyes!"

_Return to your roots… higher callings will always fail us… the primal is all we can rely on…_

Oh, I know. Preaching to the choir, here. What was my sense of catharsis telling me to do?

"It's not working!"

Sealing the deal with Yukari seemed like an attractive choice.

_No… she who scorned your adoration… she is not worthy of a second chance…_

That felt right. Earlier, in the room, even with the mood, she hadn't wanted it. That wouldn't do. There were plenty of other cute girls around me – Fuuka, Mitsuru, Rio, even Isako if you were into that sort of thing. I didn't need Yukari, right?

"It's the arrow! We have to get it out first!"

_And she is yours… if you do not need her… why should anyone else have her?…_

Indeed. She had chosen not to be mine. Thus, would belong to none.

"Minato-kun… it's me, Yukari… I know you're in there, so just hold on!"

There was no need to reply. There were only a few yards between us. She hadn't been expecting it. Three steps, and I caught her by the throat.

"Arisato!"

"Yuka-tan!"

It felt more… poetic? Yes, poetic. It felt more poetic to do it with her own weapon. She tried to yell, she tried to struggle, but it was to no avail as I pulled an arrow from her quiver.

"Stop!"

_Do it…_

No flourishes, no embellishments. I buried the arrow in her gut.

Make it certain. Pull out, stab. Pull out, stab. Pull out, stab. Each time, more screams.

"This is gonna hurt, dude, but it's for your own good."

Pain, then the wet ripping sound returned. I looked down, to see the pointy thing gone, replaced by a hole, about the width of a finger. Something then cracked into my head.

I blinked.

What… what just…

Everything came crashing down. My mind turned off. I stepped back. I didn't even notice how Mitsuru's rapier was still pierced through my shoulder, or how arterial spray was dripping out my chest. All I could see was Yukari as she fell to the floor, gasping for breath and clutching her stomach, desperately trying to stop the bleeding.

ohgodwhathaveidone

No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

No.

No, no. No? No. No:no – no.

No; no, no; no (No), no. No/no. No.

No.

"Minato… kun… it's… not your… fault…"

Of course it's my fault! I was the one stabbing you in the gut! If only I… maybe I could have… I don't…

_What good is second-guessing yourself now? You cannot change the past. What's done is done._

I have to do something!

_And yet, what options do you have? None of you are capable of healing those wounds. Hospital access is more than half an hour away, courtesy of the Dark Hour. You might as well accept it._

No. This is something I can't just accept. I'm many things – friend, arsonist, borderline sociopath – but one thing I am never going to be is a murderer. I fell to my knees and cradled Yukari in my arms.

stillbreathingbutcoldthatcantbegoodherareclosedcansheevenhearme

"Just… hang in there, Yukari. Everything's going to be fine. You're going to make it. I promise that."

_You know, it's impossible._

I don't care if it's impossible! I have to make this right!

_Calm down…_

No, I'm not going to stay calm! If I do, she's just going to die!

I pushed my hands into her abdomen, trying to staunch the bleeding.

Don't die. Don't die. I care too much about you. Life would be cold without you. Grandeur, brilliance, magnificence… all that would be lost.

Please. I'll pay any cost. Just… live.

_**Crack.**_

What.

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the True Fool Arcana…**_

What. How…

Something changed.

When those words finished playing, something… stirred inside of me. It's difficult to explain. One moment, there was nothing, the next, it was just there, perched right next to my heart.

The thing that stirred was a pool of inky wrongness.

…_Damn it._

Lyra, what's happening? What is this?

_It's dangerous. Don't use it._

But… this is the same feeling that always passes whenever you stitch me up, right? That has to mean something. What if… what if I could use it on her?

_Trust me on this. This is dangerous. Do not deal with it._

And what? Let her die? No. That's not an option.

With no real idea of what I was doing and hence running on guesswork, I focussed on the ball of wrongness and attempted to bend it to my will.

It did.

_Listen to me. You're not ready for this. You're playing with forces you cannot possibly understand._

Still better than letting her die.

Whatever it was, it obeyed anything I told it to do. Manipulating it felt more wrong than anything I'd ever done before, but I put up with it. Holding down the nausea, I split off some bits from the central core and guided them down towards my wrists.

_Stop it!_

No, I won't. Not this time.

The sound of ripping flesh once again rang out. Lumps of black amorphous ooze tore their way out of my palms, and slowly seeped into her wounds.

Please work.

_Oh, it's going to work, all right. The thing is, are you ready for what happens when it does?_

What do you –

From nowhere, my body flared in pain. It came in several waves, each radiating from a single point somewhere below my ribs, before washing over my body like a raging flood. Each was accompanied by the quiet, yet distinct, damp rip of tearing flesh, accompanied by something warm and sticky appearing on my skin in the same area.

Simply put, it was the feeling of getting repeatedly stabbed in the gut.

I lost focus when I realised this. As if it was noticing I wasn't pushing it any more, the darkness seemed to subside, retreating back into a single ball in my chest. In its wake, through the holes in her cardigan, I could see nothing but unblemished skin.

…I did it. I have no idea how, but I did it. She's okay. She's alive.

I'm tired now. I should probably go to sleep… wait, no, that's not really an option. Something just rammed into my back and came out my chest again.

_Embrace your desire…_

Sure. Right now, what I desire the most is ripping you into shreds for what you made me do.

_No… that is not your wish…_

Hey, I know me more than anyone else, and I'm pretty sure it is.

My lower body groaned as I stood back up, and I was aware of more blood staining my shirt. I paid it no heed. Understanding could be done later. Right now, there was something I needed to do.

Elsewhere in the room, the walls were still on fire, Junpei and Mitsuru had been charmed again, and Akihiko was doing his best to not get killed. I also paid them no heed. With one hand, I picked up my sword from the floor; with the other, I ripped Mitsuru's rapier out of my shoulder. Twice the weapons, twice the destruction.

_Why do you persecute me?… I only seek to release you from your chains…_

"I can do that by myself, than you very much."

Seemingly realising that its words had stopped working, the Shadow returned to conventional tactics and set me on fire. I ignored it. Maybe not completely ignored, but given that three separate objects had rammed through my torso and probably each ruptured something important, and that it was also feeling more and more likely that something had also taken the opportunity to reorganise my digestive tract, what were some third-degree burns on top of that?

The wounds and burns didn't matter. When I reached the Shadow, the battle stopped, and it became a slaughter.

– hack and slash and slice and dice, wipe the ichor from your eyes, cut and thrust and chop and pierce, hear the screaming in your ears, ruin mangle tear and break, easier than a piece of cake, murder butcher kill destroy, let the carnage feed your joy –

It was only after the Shadow was reduced to nothing more than slime and sludge on the floor than I allowed myself the privilege of passing out.

* * *

Everything was black. Assuming I wasn't dead, I was back in my brainspace, which would mean…

_We need to have some words._

Yep. She's here as well. Alright, come on. Say what you have to say.

_You know exactly what I'm going to say. What you did there? You shouldn't have done it._

So you're saying that I should have let her die.

_Yes._

You're a psychopath.

_No, I'm not a psychopath. I was only trying take the best course of action._

Right. And somehow, killing my girlfriend is part of that.

_You fail to see the point. It was a power not ready for you to use._

I still used it.

_And look what it got you. Remember the pain? If you had checked, you would have seen several stab wounds around your gut area. You may have healed her, but you took those injuries onto yourself._

Was that how it worked? That hardly makes sense.

_And yet, that is what happened._

Well… no. Even so, I survived. I'm talking to you. I'm not dead.

_A faulty assumption, but not the point. The point is that the things you are haphazardly playing with are beyond dangerous. You got away with several stab wounds this time. Next time, you might flat-out kill yourself._

Next time. This time, I saved her.

_Why are you being so stubborn?_

Because you're a disembodied voice that's repeatedly taken pleasure from me getting stabbed and blown up and set on fire? Because you fluctuate from helpful to useless to borderline insane at the blink of an eye? Because you seem to have no appreciation for any human life other than me?

_Minato…_

I'm not done speaking yet. I know what I did…

_SHUT UP._

NO, YOU SHUT UP. As I said, I know what I did. Perhaps I'm lucky to be alive. That doesn't change my decision. Even if I could go back, with that knowledge, I wouldn't change what I did. It would be a risk I was willing to take. Besides, we can't go back. What's done is done – your words, not mine. My actions brought me here, and I am prepared to bear whatever consequences they may bring.

…

Stumped for a witty comeback?

…

…

Laughter. Cold, black, soulless laughter started echoing around the void. It was that laughter I'd heard from her before: the laughter that could even make disembodied spirits tremble and buried corpses shiver.

_Well, I didn't expect you to pull that card on me. Nor did I expect you to catch on so quickly. While I could, I won't argue with my own arguments. You win this one._

…Really? You're just giving this to me?

_Of course. This was something else that was always in you. I would have brought it up eventually, but since it's come up early… perhaps I should have had more faith in you._

I… thank you, I guess?

_Indeed, you guess. That is appropriate. Now, I suppose you'll want some explanation for what happened?_

Yes… why are you being so benevolent?…

_You can have your explanations when you reach the bottom._

What?

And then the maddening laughter started again, and I found myself plummeting through boundless aeons of empty void, surrounded on all sides by nothing but nothingness and more of that baleful laughter. For countless eternities I fell, all my screams lost to the rushing abyss consuming my being, and I flapped my arms and legs in some mockery of flight, in vain hope that passed just as quickly as everything else…

_**Crack.**_

The sense of falling momentarily stopped.

_**I am thou… and thou art I…**_

A… I hesitate to say that a card appeared. It had a border, yes. Unlike any other tarot card I'd seen before, though, there was no number. The space where that number would have been remained unfilled. The same was true with the picture – no colours, no figures, no shapes, no scribbles, nothing.

It wasn't even blank.

It was _empty_.

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Nihil Arcana…**_

And then the laughter started again, and with it, so did the falling.

* * *

A/N: Yep. Shit went down.

Now, for you long-term readers who remember the original Chapter 6, you will notice that it changed. Now you know why. On the other hand, if you don't remember or you didn't see it, don't worry.

(To expound on this more, the Social Link started back in Chapter 6, and was assigned to the Devil Arcana. After some review and forward planning, I concluded that having it start there was too early and too forced, and moreover what I wanted to write didn't fit the themes of the Devil Arcana. Hence the rather large change. What this does mean is that there will be a new Devil Social link. It will be great.)

On a completely unrelated note, Persona 5 looks awesome.


	23. Chapter 22

A/N: Meant to finish this chapter by end of February. Evidently failed. Acquired writer's block. Took a break. Came back two-and-a-half months later. To get motivated again, ended up cramming in more stuff than planned. Entirely possible that too much happens this chapter. Worth waiting three months? Leave opinions in comments.

* * *

"Argh!"

My mind flashed through several shades of panic. It felt like I'd been falling for months.

It took a while, but that initial burst of fear slowly faded, as my breathing slowed and I realised where I was. White, not black. Breathing and thinking and feeling, as a living person. I'm fine. I'm not falling anymore. I'm alright –

Why is there still this feeling of wrongness in my chest?

_So you finally noticed. Good._

Erm… while this was incredibly useful in the moment, and I still don't regret what I did, having this just lurking around is kind of unsettling. Could you explain it now?

_Oh, I will. Before that, I'd like to hear your speculations. What do you think it is?_

Well… since it feels like all those things you always do, I guess I've somehow tapped into your powers or something? I wouldn't know how it happened, but it seems feasible.

_Feasible, yes. Also completely wrong._

Great. I'm not going to ignore the similarities in feeling, though. How do you explain that?

_Simply. Reversal of causality. You weren't using my abilities. I was directing yours._

…What? How does that even…

_This is something you've always had inside of you, but never been aware of. You were never informed about it, for the same reasons you wouldn't tell a four-year-old child where you kept a box of scalpels in the house. Regrettably, since you seem to have found those scalpels by yourself and are now adamant in using them for fun and profit, we are left with little choice but to train you to use them and hope you don't slit your own throat or something._

You're not exactly filling me with confidence here.

_I know. I'm trying. In fact, let's try harder. We've talked about it, but we haven't established what it is yet. Let's do that now. What other things do you frequently come across that are also unnatural, barely comprehendible and, above all, largely formed out of black ichorous paste?_

You're kidding me.

_Nope. All this time, the power source inside of you is the undiluted essence of Shadows._

What.

_Your face is magnificent right now._

But… but… how? Why?

_Did you expect me to explain absolutely everything? You see, I could tell you why there's bits of Shadow sealed in you, but I won't. Your frustration will be amusing to me._

…Do you feel that? That's the feeling of me mentally raising two middle fingers at you.

_Thank you for the compliment. Now, I'm assuming that wasn't the only thing you wanted to ask about._

Yes. Why should I even believe what you're saying? How do I know you're not just trying to screw with my mind again?

_Because I'm saying so. Also, you don't have any other explanations that would work. Think it through._

…

I hate you.

_We established that already. Are you going to believe me now?_

Unfortunately, yes. For the time being, I'll work with the assumption that there really is some sort of Shadow material inside of me. No matter how dangerous it sounds.

_So it was finally beaten into that thick skull of yours. Glad it only took a jolt to the brain for you to realise it. Yes, Shadows are dangerous. Hence the scalpel analogy. Any time you do something with this and don't fully know what you're doing, it is almost certainly going to backfire and try kill you._ _And if you do know what you're doing, it's still probably going to backfire and try kill you._

…Why does anything that I can do have to have a crippling drawback? Why can't things just be simple?

_Because your life just doesn't work that way. Stop moping. Next question._

Urgh. Alright, fine. When this… Shadow power? That sounds lame, but I'll use it for now. When this 'Shadow power' isn't trying to kill me, what can it do in theory?

_Literally everything._

Eh?

_If you can find a way to use it without detaching your limbs, it can do anything and everything you need it to do. Something this powerful should not be left to waste, which was why I was tapping into it, and why I was hoping to introduce it in a couple of months when you were more prepared. But still, you've got it now._

Wait, hold on. Everything? As in, everything?

_Is that so hard to believe? Granted, this is somewhat affected by your own influence, but you already know that Shadows are grouped via Arcana. While the classification starts at one, the system is still mostly arbitrary. What if it started at zero instead?_

That would be the Fool, right? Representing, among other things, the start of a journey and creativity.

…Creativity…

_Yep. If you can think of it, you can do it. Of course, that way might still involve killing yourself, or more simply inducing a few supernovas in the next galaxy over to gather enough energy to create stuff out of thin air, but hey. When there's a will, there's a way. _

That… that seems cool, but with what I've experienced so far this year and what you said earlier, I'll assume that no matter how I think bad the drawbacks are, they are much, much worse.

_An assumption which would indeed be correct. Just try use it to heal a small cut, and you'll understand. Any more issues about your 'Shadow powers'?_

Other than needing to think of a better name, no… actually, from what you said, it sounded like I needed to know what I was doing, but back in the hotel, I had no clue. How does that work?

_That's pretty simple. It was a predesigned template._

…Would you care to elaborate?

_Fine, fine. I'll do it this time. The other twelve Arcana that Shadows can actually have? They all have their own effects as well. Granted, you could just reach the same thing with enough creativity, but since you currently have no idea how to do that, it's a workaround. However, to compensate for not having to know that you're doing, the drawbacks are worse._

_Currently, the ones you have access to are Magician through to Lovers. Guess why?_

…Large Shadows. Great. Well, could you explain what these sub-abilities do?

_The one you used deliberately was the Empress. It heals people – fitting for an Arcana about comfort and soothingness and all that fluff that middle-aged women write about in self-help books. As you saw, the downside is that it takes those wounds onto you – the Empress reversed does represent suffering, after all. This does mean that it's completely useless at healing wounds on yourself, as it will just make a carbon copy of anything you use it to heal._

_As for the others, you've actually used the Priestess before, except you didn't realise it and you've probably forgotten. I won't tell you about it, and certainly not about any of the others, as I want to laugh while you stumble around blindly in the dark._

…As I said before, I hate you.

_And as I said before, we already established that. Next._

Okay. How do I turn it off? Having it lurk around in my chest isn't exactly comfortable.

_You don't, in the same way you don't turn off your legs when you're not using them. You'll get used to it eventually._

…Regrettably, I have to say that I think that's true.

_Excellent. Any last issues?_

Nothing to do with this. I'll assume 'Shadows are weird' or words to that effect will be your explanation for why they were capable of psychological warfare, so I won't ask that. However, what was the story about that explosion?

_And this is the part where I yet again criticise your amazing common sense. Remember what technique you used when you were summoning those Personas into your head?_

Flick through mostly at random and make lots of floaty hand gestures?

_And did you actually look at those pages before you summoned those corresponding Personas?_

…Well…

_I already know the answer to that question, you know. Now if you actually knew what Persona you'd called forth via your attempted suicide, you would already be able to make a very good educated guess for why everything exploded. Just read your Compendium. It's not difficult._

Fine. I'll get round to it when I have the time.

_Knock yourself out. The sooner, the better. Any last thoughts?_

One last thing. How long have been out this time?

_Four-and-a-half days. If you have nothing else, I'll see you around._

Then my mind was silent again, and I started twiddling my thumbs.

* * *

Presumably due to these powers not meant to be understood, the doctors once again found absolutely nothing wrong with me. When they got bored of doing their tests, they kicked me out of the hospital. They did call the dorm beforehand, though, so someone was waiting for me in the lobby.

"H-Hey, Minato-kun."

Silence.

"Um… hi, Yukari…"

Silence.

"So… you're better now?"

"Well… yes."

More silence.

It should be obvious that mind control and attempted murder do not help interpersonal relationships. Hence the large quantity of awkward silence.

Indeed, most of the walk back was filled with said awkward silence. There were a handful of words exchanged every now and again, but nothing which counted as flowing conversation. Both of us definitely wanted to fill the gap; neither of us knew how.

Several aborted threads of conversation later (the aftermath, school, the weather, food, and the slow path to economic recovery following the global financial crisis – it had been worth a shot), I tried launching another one. "How's the situation with the Dark Hour?"

Retrospectively, this was not the right question to ask. When I closed my mouth, I noticed that she wasn't walking besides me. I quickly turned, to see her stiffened and frozen in her tracks.

This probably wasn't good. I quickly started waving my hands in a hopefully placating gesture, mostly so I could actually do something. "You don't have to answer if you want, you know. Um…"

"It's fine." Yukari let out a deeply-held breath. "It's okay. It's something you should know."

"Are you sure?" Given how we'd only been using broken fragments up until now, the sudden increase in loquacity was unnerving at best. "At least we could wait until we get back to the dorm. I mean…"

"No." It was obvious that she was straining to hold something back. "It's… I wanted… no. I needed to tell you this by myself. Without anyone else around. Please."

Silently, I nodded. Speaking didn't feel right. Yukari gave a half-nod of thanks.

Silence rang again, but this one was less painful, more tense. It took a few moments for her to collect herself and find her words. Eventually, she began. "Since you joined, haven't you felt that Mitsuru-sempai's been keeping something from us?"

…Well, I never thought about it that hard, but saying that would be suicidal. "Sort of."

She nodded again before continuing. "Last night, I confronted her about it. In front of everyone, I asked her straight out why she was keeping us in the dark. Fuuka had helped me find some info, and I felt it was all connected, somehow, but it was more a blind stab than anything else.

"I didn't expect her to tell us everything."

Her voice was blank and her eyes unfocussed, as if recalling something traumatic, but she continued. "She said it started fourteen years ago, with her grandfather. They already knew about Shadows back then. They knew they were dangerous, but they also thought they could use them. They wanted to harness their powers."

…Wait.

Shadows. Powers.

Shadow Powers?

What.

"Over the next few years, they collected Shadows. Eventually, once they had enough, they planned to use them to try affect space and time."

Hold on. Slow down. So, Shadows have 'powers'. This is incredibly vague and undefined, but I can accept this.

"They planned to. Their experiment went wrong. They lost control, and broke reality itself."

People were trying to harness those powers. I can accept this. Megalomania is real.

"They created Tartarus. They created the Dark Hour."

Apparently, I can personally harness these powers. This would be harder to accept, if not for personal experience.

"Oh, and those Shadows they gathered? They spilt up into a dozen pieces. The exact ones we've been fighting on full moons."

So, three things, all of which make sense when in a vacuum. But then…

"Everything stems back from their mistake. Everything stems back to them."

Why don't these pieces fit together?

"Everything's their fault, and how are they treating us? All we're doing is cleaning up the giant mess they left behind!"

…

Silence, again.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have raised my voice so much there."

"Don't worry." I'd barely noticed. "It's okay. You've given me a lot to think about."

The rest of the walk back was filled with yet more silence.

* * *

The mood back at the dorm was similarly stilted. The air felt heavy, any speech felt muted, and nobody was quite looking at each other in the eyes. In that atmosphere, casual chatting was doomed to fail.

"You know, it's almost summer break. Does anyone have any plans?" That was Fuuka. She was answered with a wave of non-committed mumbles.

"The beach would be nice…" Junpei muttered.

No-one spoke anything else.

With a few words and nods, I ended up going back to my room. I lay on my bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, just thinking things over.

At some point, I must have fallen asleep, as I remember gently being poked in the side, and waking up to see a boy in striped pyjamas leaning over me. "Hello again."

"Hey, Pharos," I yawned, sitting up as I spoke. "Can I ask why you're here tonight?"

He gave a light shrug as he sat down next to me. "No exceptionally special reason. I wanted to congratulate you on overcoming your latest ordeal. How are you holding up? How is life as a Persona-user?"

"Honestly? I don't really know."

Pharos raised an eyebrow at my comment, so I elaborated. "If you'd asked me before this last hospitalisation, I'd have said that everything was good. Because things were good. Now, though… everyone seems shot, me included. It all links back to ten years ago, doesn't it? Mitsuru's grandfather broke science, Yukari's dad died in an explosion – she said the Kirijos owned the lab, right? – and my parents died as well. That last one I coud just dismiss as an unfortunate coincidence, but now that whole 'hey, apparently I can harness the power of Shadows!' thing? Somehow, I'm pretty sure I'm involved as well. Everything's so inbred, but I have no idea how. I just don't know anymore."

Pharos made some sort of thoughtful noise, and a deeply pensive look crossed his face. "Perhaps you have forgotten something?" On my blank look, it was his turn to elaborate. "Let me think of the best way to express this…"

He punched me. In the face.

"What was that for?" I muttered.

In response, he punched me. In the face. Again.

Alright, I wasn't going to let him just wail away on me. This time, when he wound back his arm, I darted forward and headbutted him right in the solar plexus.

In response, he grabbed the back of my neck and drove a knee into my nose.

To counter, I grabbed him by the legs, stood up, and threw him into a wall.

These were only the first few moves of the ensuing fight. By the time it all ended, less than two minutes had passed, but my room looked like a complete scrapheap, and I was pretty sure that I had at least two dislocated limbs. Not that Pharos looked any better. Both of us were sprawled on the floor, mostly because we couldn't move any more.

"What was the point of this?" I asked.

There was a hint of triumph in Pharos's voice. "You're not moping and miserable anymore."

That… yes, that was certainly true. Sure, my body felt like it had just rolled down a two-in-three, fifty-foot cliff, but somehow, it felt good. Similarly, my mind felt a lot better. It felt right. "Huh."

Pharos chuckled, and I could tell there was some smug smile on his face. "All this time, I've known you weren't one for brooding. You were always the sort to only make the basic outline, and make everything else up as you went. It might have only been for a moment, but I think you forgot that."

"You know, I think you might actually be right." When was the last time something had got to me this much? I couldn't properly remember. "So are you saying I should stop with the deep analysis and go back to setting things on fire?"

"Not entirely. Thinking isn't bad. Just don't lose sight of your true self."

"Just like how you're blessed with violent tendencies and tend to enjoy spouting tacky philosophical crap?"

"Exactly. Because we're friends."

"I'm pretty sure that doesn't logically follow from the previous statement."

"Who's being philosophical now?"

A brief pause hung in the air, before we both started laughing.

When Pharos recovered, he spoke again. "To be serious for a moment, I'm here if you need me."

I gave a thumbs-up, hopefully where he could see it. "I'll be counting on you, then."

Nothing else needed to be said.

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Death Arcana…**_

"Arisato?"

Eh? What was… were those footsteps, outside of my door? I looked over to Pharos, seeking some sort of confirmation, only to find that he had already poofed. Great.

Then the door got kicked open, and Mitsuru rushed in, armed and dangerous, swiftly followed by the others. "Arisato, are you harmed? We heard fighting, and…" The state of my room finally registered on her. "What happened?"

Hmm. What methods did I have in store to bullshit my way out of this one?

* * *

Somehow, I managed to explain away what had happened in such a way that I didn't get executed. I'm pretty sure I still came out as insane, but I would take what I could get.

Besides, if the dorm was dealing with me being, well, me, then they weren't being miserable about the Dark Hour and everything. While it was still there, the crushing atmosphere was largely gone, replaced by a sort of resigned humour. Yep, everything was well on the way to being mostly fine again.

"If you'd forgotten, exams will start tomorrow."

…Damn.

Okay, Minato. Don't panic. You have a day. One day is plenty enough time to prepare enough so you only fail, instead of failing miserably.

Lyra, are you going to help me cheat this time?

_I would say yes, but would you trust anything I say?_

…Point taken.

Alright. So, I was on my own. Going back to the dorm felt unproductive, given my room currently resembled a skip, which left me with the school library. It was, of course, absolutely crammed with people in a similar situation to me. There was barely enough space to breathe.

"I'm just saying, it isn't an even mix. You need a lot more saltpetre than charcoal or sulfur, or otherwise things just go badly wrong. I know. I tried."

The wonders of being a social pariah. That comment was more than enough to send people scuttling away from me, giving me just about enough space to think clearly, and read through my notes.

Studying. Riveting.

Incidentally, during that time, Rio was also in the library, and it would have been unremarkable, except that we somehow having an awkward conversation about romance.

To give some context, about half an hour had gone by, and I was trying to yet again understand the purpose of integrative learning on the syllabus (I failed), when Rio came in, saw how there was a significant amount of empty space around me, shrugged, and sat down to do her own work. That would have been that, except that someone – Whathisface, I think his name was – turned up, looking for her. Apparently, they were childhood friends or something.

Given that I didn't particularly care about the nuances of whoever Whatshisface was and his daily life, I ignored their conversation, and wondered if there was any way to get extra credit without actually doing any more work. I still did notice him leaving, returning and leaving again, but that was it.

"Can I ask you something?"

I was stuck deep enough in my thoughts that it took me a few moments to realise that she'd actually spoken. "Sure. Go ahead." That was how the conversation started.

"You're going out with Takeba-san, aren't you?"

"…Yes…" Mentioning the recent shift in events felt inappropriate.

"How did it start? I mean, no offence, but she's the most popular girl in the year, and you're, well…"

"Me? I get it." Evidently, tact is something other people use. "Honestly?" I leant back in my chair, and started thinking back to when it began. "It just… sort of happened. One moment we weren't a thing, and then we just… were. Yeah."

"It just happened." Her voice was flat and incredulous.

"Well… yeah." As you can infer, I didn't have an intelligent reply.

Several uncomfortable seconds passed of us staring blankly at each other, before Rio let out a muttered sigh and shook her head.

Okay. I had enough sense to realise that what I'd said wasn't satisfactory, and that I should try to fix it. Studying could wait a moment longer. "What's the matter?"

Her reply was another resigned half-sigh. "Just… don't worry. It's not your problem."

There was an insistence in her voice that made me consider letting it go, but doing so still didn't feel right. "Maybe it isn't, but still, I'd like to help. We're friends, right?"

…

"Sorry. That sounded less tacky in my head." Who was I, Pharos? "Please remind me to never invoke the power of friendship again."

At least it got her to crack a smile. "I said it before, but you really are a strange one, Minato-san."

"Yeah, yeah. We established that already. Now, come on. Tell me what's bothering you."

"Sorry." Rio started shaking her head in response, although the smile remained. "I don't think this is something you can help me with."

"Maybe so, but I'd still like to try." I put some extra weight into my words, to draw a metaphorical line in the sand.

"Really."

"Yes."

"Really."

"Yes."

"Really."

"Yes."

There were more iterations of this loop than I'd like to admit. Eventually: "You're just going to keep saying 'Yes', aren't you?"

"Yes."

"By any chance, are you just saying that word on autopilot?"

"Yes… I mean, no. Never."

A few more blinks, followed by a sigh. "I'll say it again: you're strange."

"Tell me something I don't know. Now, come on. Can you tell me?"

Something in her eyes glinted; she crossed her arms, as if daring me to answer. "Alright, then. You've got a girlfriend, and Kenji – that was the guy who was just here – Kenji's doing his own stuff with romance as well. I don't get it."

I blinked. "I'm not sure I understand your question. You don't get what?"

There was another pause, followed by Rio's head dropping to the desk. "Urgh. You see, this is why… never mind." She sat back up. "I just don't get the whole point of being in a relationship. I mean, why?"

…Not exactly the topic I was expecting (then again, what had I been expecting?). The point… I could see why I wasn't the most appropriate person to ask. Still… I organised the first thoughts that came into my head. "Well… I don't know?"

"You don't know." Flat incredulousness again. "Seriously…"

"I didn't finish," I quickly tagged on. "Yeah, maybe there isn't much of a purpose to start off with, but then you create it as you go along." Just like I was creating these words right now, out of nothing. "And then… you get your romantic answer, but you got there together, which makes it more worthwhile?" To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure just what words were falling out of my mouth. "Something like that, anyway."

Awkward silence returned. Not one of my finest speeches.

"Sorry. Yeah, I probably shouldn't have pried."

"Don't worry." Rio was shaking her head again, but of more importance was how her smile returned. "I think I get where you were coming from. Besides, you've given me something to think about. I mean, it's not a good explanation, but it's something."

"No worries?" I wasn't sure if that was the right thing to say, but I felt like I had to say something, just to cap this episode off.

_**Crack.**_

Evidently, it was.

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Chariot Arcana…**_

Of course, we then had to go back to studying.

* * *

Going into those exams, I knew I was unprepared.

What I didn't know was just how unprepared I was.

Day One: English.

List all circumstances in which it is correct to use a semicolon.

Day Two: Japanese Literature.

'The main character is portrayed sympathetically in _The Tale of Genji_'. To what extent do you agree with this statement?

Day Three: Science.

Briefly describe the process by which a carboxylic acid may be turned into a ketone.

Day Four: World History.

Give a timeline of events for Ying Zheng's Unification of China.

Day Five: Mathematics.

Find all functions _f_ defined on the real numbers and taking real values that satisfy the equation _f(x) f(y) = f(x + y) + xy_ for all real _x_ and _y_.

Urgh.

* * *

"How did we get here again?"

Two days had passed since the end of that ordeal, which I had spent sleeping, recovering, and cleaning bloodstains from my room. It naturally follows that I found myself on a boat, headed to Yakushima.

Seriously. I mean, you'd think that if the dorm was planning a holiday, they'd make sure that everyone was at least aware, but no. The first thing I knew about this was waking up in the morning, going down for some food, and seeing a stack of suitcases about as tall as me.

What made it worse was that it was the beach. The beach. The concept of 'beach holiday' just didn't register in my mind. Why anyone enjoyed making the choice between corrupting their flesh with sinister chemicals, or having their skin agonisingly peel off layer by layer was beyond me.

Or why they would enjoy finding sand in everything they owned for months on end, for that matter.

Or drowning.

But I digress. To skip forward slightly, we arrived in the late afternoon, appreciated the house we would be staying in (owned by Mitsuru's family – glad to see that nepotism is still alive and kicking), went to our rooms to unpack, and then went to chill on the beach. Well, everyone else did. I feigned travel-sickness and hid in the bathroom.

I still maintain that I was acting in a perfectly logical and reasonable fashion.

Despite our late arrival, it was still summer, which meant that it took a good four hours for the sun to go down and the sea to go cold. I won't bore you with how I spent that time, except to say that the eighth tile on the fifth row of the west wall of that room wasn't parallel with the tile directly opposite it.

It was still more interesting than drowning.

Anyway, everyone else came back in, and I told them I was finally feeling better. I then regretted telling them that, as Junpei pointed out that I had no reason to not go to the beach tomorrow. Damn.

The rest of the evening passed mostly uneventfully. Dinner was good, if a bit fancy (if anyone could inform me about the difference between foie gras and regular duck liver pâté, I would appreciate it), and after that, we spent some time playing billiards (until Mitsuru told us we were playing it wrong, and we changed to eight-ball pool). All in all, I found it significantly more relaxing than getting sunburnt on the beach.

I can only look back and wish that nothing of note had actually happened that night.

"From what I understand, Mitsuru has already given you the short version."

Everyone had been gathered into the main living room, and we were now being addressed by a sharply-dressed man with an eyepatch. I'd caught a glimpse of him when we'd arrived, and from what I understood, his name was Takeharu Kirijo, and he was Mitsuru's father.

Also, he was opening up that whole can of worms about Shadows again. Great.

To my right, Yukari gave a nod of confirmation. Takeharu let out a small sigh. "What she has told you is all correct. We, the adults, are to blame. If I could atone for it in any way, I would, but… now, I have no choice but to rely on you."

Hooray for being glorified cleaning staff.

"Excuse me…" Fuuka spoke up. "Can I ask something? She mentioned the power of Shadows, but Mitsuru-sempai never fully explained what her grandfather was trying to achieve."

"He wanted to control time."

There was utter silence as we all took that in.

Control… time… that would be like time travel, right? And if they were trying to use it by harnessing the power of Shadows…

"Dude… that's insane."

Nope. Nope. Nope. I have enough crazy things on my plate at the moment. I'd rather not think about that possibility at the moment.

"Imagine it. The entirety of history at your fingertips. You could bring glories to your allies, catastrophe to your enemies, stop untold disasters before they occurred… with such a device, even the future would be subject to your desires."

Please stop talking about this.

"In later years, though, that research began to stray from its original goal. My father seemed to hold only nihilism in his heart. From that, what happened may have been inevitable. But you deserve to know the truth, and it is my duty to inform you."

With a sense of finality, he reached into a pocket and pulled out a small remote. Pressing it, a screen descended from the ceiling, and a projector started counting down.

10… 9…

"What is this?" Akihiko asked.

7… 6…

"This is the only footage we have of the incident. It was recorded by a scientist at the scene."

4… 3… 2… 1…

The screen flickered, to reveal what may have been a science lab. It was difficult to tell, partially because the footage was grainy, but mostly because the room was filled with fire and smoke.

"I pray that this recording reaches safe hands."

We all jolted from the voice. Out of the haze emerged a figure; his face was unclear, but he was clearly male, with unkempt brown hair and wearing a stained labcoat.

"My employer has become obsessed with a loathsome idea. I don't know why, but these experiments… they never have should been conceived. To that end, I had to sabotage them. I know I may never be forgiven for what I've done today, but otherwise, the entire world may yet have paid the price."

Unsurprisingly, we were all completely silent. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Junpei mouthing something, but I couldn't quite tell what. Several others, Yukari in particular, looked extremely pale.

Regardless of that, the video continued. "Listen to me. The explosion here will cause the accumulated Shadows to scatter. Whoever you are, I beg of you – you must hunt down and destroy those Shadows! Only then will this nightmare be ov–"

Another blast rocked the screen, and the man was knocked off balance, careening into a desk. As he forced himself back up, he coughed out a cloud of smoke, mixed with what looked to be flecks of blood. As if triggered by this, his voice took on a more defeated tone. "We knew the risks from the beginning. Perhaps we should have foreseen something like this… but, no. We were all blinded by the promise of success. That is why things turned out like this… I'm sorry. Please, tell my family I love them."

A tingle of static, before another explosion, and a huge wave of fire, consuming everything –

It was just for half a split-second, but just before he died, I saw his face. Yes, it was unfamiliar, but even through the smoke and static, I could tell those weren't the eyes of a stranger.

"D-Dad?"

No. They were hers.

* * *

The recording had long ticked over, but the room was still deathly silent. All our attention was held by the girl who had spoken, staring blankly at the blank screen.

Eventually, though, someone had to speak; it was Mitsuru's father. "His name was Eiichiro Takeba. At the time, he was the head researcher, and one of the best men I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Despite that, we kept pushing him to continue the research. As such, we are to blame for his death."

Another round of choking silence.

"My dad… caused it all?" Her voice was distant, almost as if being washed away. "The Dark Hour. Tartarus. Everything… it was all his fault?"

Mitsuru audibly gulped. "Takeba…"

The mention of her name seemed to snap something. "So that's why you were hiding everything?" Gone was the drifting, to be replaced with scorn and acid. "You were sorry for me? You thought I was delicate, and needed to be shielded from it all? Is that it?"

"Takeba, I swear –"

"Guess what? Just because there's a feather in my name, doesn't been I'm going to collapse in the breeze! If I wanted your pity, I would have asked for it!"

Half a second, and she was gone, leaving only the sound of feet crashing up stairs. When that too faded, the silence returned. It lingered. It continued to linger.

…Alright, that was enough.

I stood up.

"Arisato?"

I ignored the voice and went out, following her. Even if she didn't want pity, in this state, I was pretty sure she needed someone, just to be there for her. I took the stairs up two at a time, as quickly and quietly as possible. Reaching her door, I took a deep breath to steady myself, and knocked.

"Go away." The sound was muffled, as if being spoken into a pillow.

"Yukari? It's me."

No reply.

…She didn't tell me to go away, but she also didn't say to come in. So… I sat down and let my back fall against her door. "I didn't think you'd want to be alone at the moment. I'm here if you want to talk."

Again, no reply. At least, not at first. When I was considering asking again, there came the creak of floorboards, and another gentle thud on the door. Even with two inches of wood between us, I could hear how laboured her breathing was.

It was her that spoke first. "I believed in him for so long, you know? You get it now, don't you – all that stuff, about how he died back then. Nobody knew the truth, so they just made up rumours about it. He'd been the head researcher, so of course he'd be at the centre of the mess – they just kept shouting at us – mom never got used to it – always on the outside – got egged a few times – kept having to move – wasn't fair ––"

"Yukari? Can you hear me? You sound like you're panicking. Just… calm down, please?"

I probably could have phrased that more comfortingly, but it had the desired result, and her words quickly trailed off, replaced with more deep, even breathing. "Sorry. Just… all this time, I kept telling myself it wasn't his fault. He was my dad. I had to keep telling myself that he couldn't do anything wrong.

"Ten years. I didn't know anything for ten years. Then I found I had some power, and I thought, 'hey, could this be fate?' I wanted to find the truth, so I agreed to all this, but now… what was the point of it all? All of it. All of it was for nothing."

A snarky point of me wanted to make some sort of annoying comment, but I pushed it aside. Now wasn't the time. "It can't have all been for nothing. At the very least, you met us, right? If you weren't part of all of this, I'd guess you'd be more distant to all of us."

That seemed to make her laugh; it wasn't a happy laugh, though. Instead, it was bitter, jaded, and cynical. "Heh. Look at you, little mister perfect, trying to make me feel better. Being set on fire barely even seems to faze you. Is that what you want, then? To swoop in on your white steed and save the fair maiden? You don't know me. You're just as bad as her… no, you know what? You're worse."

…

"I can just imagine your face right now, just thinking, 'wait, what does she mean?' Oh, I'll tell you. At least she always had the decency to keep everything strictly professional. You… maybe I expected too much. You're you, after all. You almost reminded me of me, in a way – on the outside, looking in – but you never let that get to you, did you? I thought that you might actually thought of me than more than just a pretty face. Don't try to defend it. Come on. Sure, it started well enough, but come on. We share a tender moment, and then you string me along for what, a month? And then, when I think it might be time to quit, boom. You have to make me feel there's still something there. But no. There isn't. I know it, you know it, the whole school knows it. We're a complete joke. Maybe the rumours were right. You're barely human, aren't y–"

She seemed to realise what she was actually saying. Slowly, but surely, those words sunk in. She… did she…

I swallowed, still trying to fully come to terms.

She spoke first. "Sorry." It was barely above a whisper. "That… I didn't mean it. Sorry. I'm… I'm a terrible human being, aren't I?"

"No. If anything, I'm worse."

Another pause for those words to sink in.

It didn't matter if she was exhausted, physically, mentally, or emotionally. It didn't matter whether her mind was a mess, or if nothing but endless emotions were keeping her from collapsing. None of that mattered. In the end, all that did matter was that she was right.

I wasn't using it to keep track, but my Social Link with her was… well, I'd heard the icy voice announce stuff about the Lovers Arcana four times. Also, we'd nominally been going out for three months.

Three months. Four significant romantic gestures.

Saying that it was an appalling rate felt like an understatement. How had I never noticed that?

"Looking back on it," I quietly spoke, "I can say that I probably kept you for granted. I guess I lumped you with Junpei – whatever I did, he'd always be around, so I guess I might have accidentally thought the same? Look, I… maybe we were a joke. All of that would be my fault. I'm sorry."

…

"We both have problems, don't we?"

I gave a sarcastic chuckle. "That wouldn't be a lie."

For what felt like the thousandth time in the past week or so, silence returned. This silence, though, felt significantly different. It didn't feel unwanted, for one. Instead, it felt… appropriate, for a lack of a better word. Yes, while things wouldn't magically turn 'right' in an instant, the worst was over, and now was a time for reflection. Chiefly, reflecting on what my relationship with the girl on the other side of the door actually meant.

We sat there, backs against the door, for some time. Eventually, though, it had to end. The creak of floorboards broke the silence. "Looks like everyone else is finally coming up," I spoke to no-one in particular. I was unsurprised when I didn't get a reply.

Slowly, I got back to my feet. "Thanks for pointing all that out to me. I'll need some time to think all that over. Good night, Yukari."

Again, I wasn't expecting a reply. Thus, when she did speak, I stopped in my tracks completely.

"Don't go."

I did a double take. As if sensing my confusion, she explained. "Look, I… I'm not sorry for what I said. Maybe for how I said it, but not for what I said. With that said, though, you were right. I'm scared right now. I don't know what's going on anymore, and it feels like the whole world's against me. I don't want to be alone. Not tonight. Please. Stay."

That… crap. What was I supposed to do? I wanted time to think, so I could make this decision with a clear head and when I wasn't completely drained, but that wasn't an option. Not only because I was on the spot, but because everyone else was coming. When they arrived, some words would probably be exchanged, and I would be sent off to my room. I wouldn't be able to make that choice.

I could just walk away. It would be easy enough – just a couple of steps, never looking back. It might be somewhat heartless, but it would be sensible. It would be a clean slate – pushing aside all that was, ready for a fresh start. Doing that, though, would probably mean that anything deep and romantic would be out of reach. Yes, we'd probably end up closer as friends, but nothing more.

Or, I could turn around and walk through the door. Two adolescents, nominally dating, both in a state of emotional flux – it was easy enough to guess what could happen. Obviously, going through would mean fully committing to the idea of us as a pair. Yes, it could end happily ever after, but given that I had essentially no clue how to proceed, and that we were on shaky ground already, it would be a massive risk. If I went through, and it didn't work out, the fallout could be catastrophic.

…The others were getting closer. I had to decide.

In the end, what did I want from her more: friendship, or something more?

At approximately eleven-fifty five on the twentieth of July, in the year two thousand and nine, under the last sliver of a crescent moon in a cloudless sky, I made my choice.

_**Crack.**_

_**Thou shalt have my blessing when creating a Persona of the Lovers Arcana…**_


End file.
